DOLLS

Several days before Christmas, Ginny and her twin brother, "Jimmy" visited Santa.  They shared their handwritten lists with Santa.  Ginny's list is slightly longer than Jimmy's.

You say potato; I say potato. Banal, right? Doesn’t matter how you pronounce it. … The person on the receiving end of the communication will understand and that’s all that matters. Well, in light of the recent controversy over what it is exactly that one 3-year-old’s interpretation of what her new Hannah Montana doll is saying, the nuance of pronunciation matters after all.

So what is the doll really saying? You be the judge.

Black Friday is here and the local morning news stations seemed to be at every shopping location to interview the blurry-eyed, giggly, sleep deprived consumers. As a service to the community they periodically provided tips to their viewers and at one point this morning, a shopper distilled the reporting into one concise message.

Doll message boards, forums and groups offer collectors a world of resources, when used wisely. Learn from my experience how not to behave online!

Hi to all, well here we are at the end of another year and another decade to boot. All I can say is YIKES! There aren't many shows during December, but I hope that many of you are planning to see your doll club or teddy bear friends.

BlackDollShows.com will host The 2009 International Black Doll and Gift Show, which will be held on Saturday, December 5, 2009, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at The Riverside Church, South Hall, 490 Riverside Drive, New York, New York 10027. Admission is $6.00 for adults and children 12 years and older.

I think we have all experienced how much faster time seems to go as we grow older.  This year seems to have been especially quick and full of demands on my time.  The last show of the year in Northern California was this last weekend in San Jose, CA and almost everyone that I spoke to commented on how the year just whizzzzed by!

Many collectors celebrate the holidays by incorporating dolls into their holiday décor. Christmas dolls and dolls dressed in traditional Christmas colors are selected. Others are redressed in Christmas outfits made for them or similar size dolls, while child-size dolls are redressed in children's clothing.

Some folks are of the school of thought that doll collecting is going away. I happen to believe it’s just changing in a big way. One factor I believe has changed the timbre of doll collecting is pop culture.

Apples and oranges and fashion dolls. To compare them, I think that Barbie and Tyler are apples to Gene’s orange. Barbie is melons (obviously) to the grapes of Bratz. As a consumer and collector, I appreciate them all and I am glad that the manufacturers have given us a wide range of styles from which to choose. But two of these dolls have informed my life. Barbie may have brought fashion dolls into my world, but Tyler brought them back.