No Pie For Me

I got some great Christmas gifts this year: pretty earrings, a clothes steamer, gift cards to interesting stores--even a percolator! I loved everything I received, but I have to say: I think It's been a long, long time since I've had a Christmas when I was absolutely dying to get one specific gift. When I was ten, I was just crazy about a baby doll I'd seen at Dunn Tires in the Perry Plaza. I don't know why the tire store had a toy section, but it did. Every Saturday, while my parents grocery shopped at the A&P, my little sister and I would wander through the five and dime and then head to the tire store to look at the dolls. Jane wanted the three foot tall Laura Walker doll who walked with you if you held her hand and moved forward with her in tow. I wanted the red haired baby doll in the frilly yellow dress and the cradle-shaped box. I thought I was a little old for a baby doll, but I wanted her so much. I asked for her for Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, our family gathered at my parents' house for dinner and a gift exchange. I can remember sitting on the living room floor, not far from the tree, watching the adults passing out the gifts. Somebody handed me a box that was definitely big enough to hold that red haired baby. I was so excited. I tore the wrapping paper off and struggled to open the box (one that was not cradle shaped, by the way), and inside, I found this:



Eskimo Pie doll was about as underwhelming to ten-year-old me as a gift could be, especially when I was sure I knew what was inside. I actually burst into tears when I saw her. It wasn't until the following year that I got that baby doll. I found her under the tree on Christmas morning, and even though I was 11 by then, I loved her. My mom crocheted sweaters and booties for her, and I slept with her every night.

When they were little, my nieces and nephews would sometimes ask me to tell them THE STORY OF ESKIMO PIE. They thought it was hilarious that I got so upset about a doll, that I still had the doll, and that doll has a big bulbous head and little flipper arms and legs. I still have the baby doll, too, but her hair turned brittle and cracked off years ago, so she hasn't held up as well as "Pie" has. So there you have it, in the span of a year, I received my most disappointing and most exciting Christmas gifts ever. I'm sure there's some lesson in all of this, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it all boils down to the old adage that its better to give then to receive. Then again, I'm not sure that my parents felt that giving was particularly edifying when they had to deal with a ten year old having a Christmas Eve meltdown.

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