The Trail's Our Thing

I happened to see a little item on my AOL homepage today, noting that this is the 50th anniversary of Barbie. There was a link to this slide show that showed Barbie's fashion evolution over the years (69 slides), which brought back some great memories.

When I was growing up, kids didn't seem to have as much-- at least not in my family or the kids I knew. My sister, brother and I got a few presents at Christmas and our birthdays and saved our allowance and occasional small monetary gifts from grandparents to buy something special at other times of year. Our parents didn't buy us "stuff" throughout the year like many parents (okay... me) do now. We also relied much more on "toys" instead of television, videos, computers and electronic games for entertainment. I think we stayed kids much longer than kids do today.

Here are some of my favorite childhood possessions:

1) Barbie dolls. I must have gotten my first Barbie doll (and a Ken too) a few years after they came out, perhaps when I was about six or seven. They were a Christmas gift from my grandparents. Over the years my sister and I ended up with about 11 different dolls in the Barbie family. I think we had two Barbies (one blonde, one brunette), Ken, Midge, Allen, Skipper, Scooter, Francine. Was there maybe a Ricky? (a boy that went with Skipper and Scooter?) And some little kids, perhaps Tutti and Todd? I had an old Barbie dream house (complete with a hi-fi system and record albums) and a simplee car. I played with my Barbie dolls all the time, until I was maybe 12 years old. In the slide show link above, I know I had that red velvety coat and maybe the slinky nightclub singer outfit too.

2. Chatty Cathy. This was a gift from my grandparents too. I wanted this doll because her name was Cathy, even though she spelled it the "wrong" way. You pulled a thing in the back of her neck and she said some simple phrases, maybe 10 different things. My Cathy had blonde hair.

3. My stuffed bear Barli. This was a baby present, given to me as a baby in Germany by the German landlady I think. I didn't have lots of stuffed animals like most kids do today-- I think just this one bear. I slept with him for a long time and he traveled to and from Australia with me. Our family dog chewed off part of his lip when I was a teenager, but my mother fixed him. I saved him into adulthood, and when I had my own daughter, this was one of the childhood treasures that I passed onto her. Kelly has had lots and lots of stuffed animals, but this is the one she has kept with her in bed and treasures the most. This means a lot to me.

Beloved Barli-- not bad after 53 years of love!

4. Paper Dolls. I loved playing with paper dolls, and my mom enjoyed playing paper dolls with me too. When I was about nine or ten she gave me a set of historical paper dolls from the Civil War era. The next year I got a larger set of Colonial Paper Dolls. I loved the elaborate costumes and spent hours putting clothes on and off and imagining conversations and stories. I liked the historical aspect a lot. I still have these paper dolls, though Kelly never took an interest in them.

My old paper dolls

5. Books. I was a huge reader as a girl and loved getting books as gifts. My mom was a reader too (as is Kelly), and she gave me some of her childhood books, which I still have. I kept all these books for Kelly, and they're in bookcases still in our house. She has read a few but quickly moved onto books like Harry Potter instead. I liked a lot of series: Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Pollyanna (a series from my mom that I loved), the Five Little Peppers (another from my Mom), What Katy Did; Betsy, Tacy and Tib... so many!

Part of my Bobbsey Twins collection

6. Board Games. Our family played a lot of board games. Some that we especially enjoyed were Monopoly, Life, Park & Shop, Go to the Head of the Class. I played the game of Life a lot by myself. I liked seeing what job you got and how much money you could collect.

7. Tinker Toys. These were fun and our whole family enjoyed sitting on the floor and constructing the more complicated things like the ferris wheel. I liked these much more than Lincoln Logs.

8. Crayons and Coloring Books. We had a set of 64 crayons and quite a few coloring books. My mom liked to color with us too. She and I made a lot of clothes for another set of paper dolls.

9. Roller skates. I had the kind of roller skates that fixed to your heavy shoes using a key. We lived on a dead end street and really enjoyed skating.

10. Dress-ups. My mom gave us her old clothes (including hats and costume jewelry), and my sister and I used to love to play dress up. We would make up elaborate games and play for hours, often involving our younger brother (and sometimes dressing him up too). When we were a little older, I wrote plays and involved other neighborhood kids in putting on performance for our parents.

It didn't take much to have fun back then. I have really good memories of my childhood and of our family growing up.