Have you seen this year’s version of the Lexus holiday commercials? Where the adult receiving the shiny new car with the enormous bow on top flashes back to a Christmas past when they received some other awesome gift? Well those inspired me to think about gifts I received as a child that stick out in my memory for one reason or another and I thought – hey – Holidailies, the holidays – it’s a good time to dust off those memories and share!
You may need to be a girl of a certain age to relate of course 😉
Growing up my mom didn’t want to have to fuss with my very thick, very abundant, very wavy/frizzy hair. So she always had it cut in this very fashionable style:
The pixie. Even on these lovely gals, it’s still a tad..minimal? Of course I didn’t like it. Think about it – what did all the girls in any cartoon or childrens book or story look like? No matter what color the hair – it was always long. Usually flowing to the waist. Oh how I wanted my hair long! (and if you know me, you know it is and has been for a very long time!!) So naturally I was enthralled with the hair on my dolls. I loved to brush the hair and style it. Barbie was very small though. I wanted something bigger, but almost all bigger dolls were babies with little plastic bald heads. And then I saw this on tv:
Oh yeah!! Do you remember her? Her hair grew! Her head was hollow (insert obvious blond joke here) and that back part of her admittedly mullet styled hair would tuck in and out so that you could set her length however you wanted it. She was big enough that I could play with braiding and ponytails and just brush and brush that glorious hair! Oh, and do you also see where my love of purple was born? Velvet had a velvet purple dress of course. Now, like most toys, the *idea* of it was so much more than reality, but let’s not go there eh? All that matters is that seeing her under the tree made me very happy.
Trees & Flowers & Birds! 
Oh! I don’t remember her, but I sure do remember Crissy, the other doll that had growing hair back then. I remember playing the same way with her too, finally have some long hair to comb and fix, unlike my baby fine stuff that refused to go into a ponytail. Thanks for the memories!
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I wore that same hairstyle, the adorable pixie. my sister, a year younger than me, had long hair. I still resent that! and I had Crissy, the doll whose hair grew.
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When I was five, my mother told me we were going “for a trim” and had my hair cut into a shag. Yes, I was a five-year-old Carol Brady. I’m still bitter.
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My mom did that to me too. Then she let her friend practice beauty school by perming my hair.
I had a doll like that, but I think her name was Chrissy. You pressed her belly button to make the hair grow and turned this knob on her back to wind it back up.
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there’s actually a wiki article about Chrissy!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crissy_Doll
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Aw, … I felt the same way you felt about Velvet about Rainbow Brite. Best Christmas present to get under the tree.
Like you, I also had a pixie style growing up, and I hate it almost as much as I hated the androgynous button down shirts and cord slacks that my dad thought constituted appropriate attire for little girls.
I just wanted a pair of black leggings and a colorful sweater, long hair and fuzzy scrunchies, like every other girl in the fourth grade. 🙂
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And how cool would it be to be able to actually press your belly button and grow your hair out just like that? Bangs at that intollerable stage, no problem. Layers too short for a pony tail, no problem. Need short hair for a Halloween wig, no problem. That would be the handiest thing since a flat iron.
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Then again, some chose the pixie, like my bride:
SnoKat’s pixie hair
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I never had a pixie and always wanted one. My mother had me in long hair even when I wanted short. Now I won’t cut my hair. I keep it long because the way it’s thinning, it won’t be long before I can’t keep it at all, let alone long!
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Velvet was my favorite doll!!!! My sister had Chrissy.
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give me one of them pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.just give my velvet and ill get crissy.
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