Show and Tell #9

Edited to add that this week, although I really hadn't planned to, I took a bit of a bloggy break- just doing nothing more than home schooling, cleaning, Bible Studies, and just...life! But I'm looking forward to catching up with all of you in the days to come!



It's Friday! Time once again for Show and Tell, hosted by Kelli, at There is No Place like Home.

Most of you know that my mom, who's 80, is getting ready to sell her home in order to move closer to us. I've been making trips to ready her house, and each time I seem to take with me a treasure from my childhood!

So for this week's Show and Tell, I'd like to share one that is especially near and dear to my heart. In fact, I'm not sure how I lived all these years without her, now that I have her back!

When I was about eight years old, my cousin (actually she was my third cousin- our grandmothers were sisters) was given a life-like baby doll that I absolutely fell in love with. It was given to her by my great aunt- cousin D's grandma. And when my great aunt found out how much I wanted one, she promptly told her sister- my beloved Gammee.

That very Christmas, I opened a big box to reveal who would quickly become my most loved doll from then on out.

Her name....Puddin'.


Some of you may be familiar with the maker- Madame Alexander. In fact her name and picture, as well as Puddin's name in information, are still on the box which now houses her clothes.

But at the time, all of that was not quite as important to me.

As I reached down and picked her up for the first time, I loved how she was just as big as a real baby, and her sweet face seemed so life-like that I just completely became her mommy on the spot. Never mind that I was almost nine years old...I was in love!


And not only had Gammee blessed me with the gift of this wonderful doll, but seamstress that she was, she made her a complete wardrobe as part of her present, as well!

I am sure some of the original wardrobe is missing...but there are several outfits left and in perfect condition. The pink checkered one was the dress she actually came in...but the rest were all hand-made by my grandmother for me, including the outfit she's wearing in the photos.
She even knitted two pairs of booties, and crocheted a sweet little blanket for her (which you'll see in the final photo).
When I think of how much work she lovingly put in them for me (and that she was over 70 at the time) I wish more than anything I could once again throw my arms around her and tell her thank you all over again.


I brought Puddin' back this past weekend- cradle and all- and I have to tell you a little secret...
All those old familiar feelings - those first strong maternal feelings that a little girl experiences with a beloved doll in preparation for motherhood- they came back with force in my memory when I picked her up...went through all her little clothes...
And then I heard that long-forgotten "Mama" cry she made when I tipped her forward...enough to melt even the most calloused of hearts!

Needless to say, my girls- 8 and 5- fell instantly in love with her, as well.



With my protective supervision, I allowed them to dress and re-dress her, put her in her cradle, and argue over who was lying closer to her at rest time.
They wanted me to play with her with them...but I finally had to break away, mumbling firmly to myself...
"She's just a doll...she's just a doll...she's just a doll..."

I soon realized that it wasn't just me that has to keep reminding myself, though...my eight year old Sweetiegirl declared,
"Now we have five people in our family!" Ahem.

When the girls and I exuberantly showed my dear husband our precious Puddin', he really did try to reply nicely. But we all could tell... he just didn't understand. He's a boy.

I keep thinking how that if God let's loved ones peek down on good things from Heaven, my Gammee would be smiling, knowing the doll I loved more than all others is finally being loved again...by me, and by her great-granddaughters. The clothes she made were being appreciated once again, and out from the box they spent decades within.

Now, Puddin is home at last. And these days, she enjoys sleeping in her cradle between the beds of two little girls who are as captivated by her as I was.

Nighty-night Puddin'.