Sad Doll Was Reminder Of Love

As we enter into the holiday season, it's hard not to feel rushed. I am already decorated for Christmas, and I don't know when the last time that happened was - as recently as last year I was removing a cardboard skeleton, pelvis askew and one arm missing, from my door in time to put my Christmas wreath up - Thanksgiving was totally by-passed. (What do you really do for decorating on Thanksgiving, though - hang a fake turkey, put cornucopias everywhere? Did the first Thanksgiving revelers really stuff cornucopias with hollow yet attractive squash, colorful leaves and blackberry vines the way HomeGoods does? Methinks not.)
Anyhoo, as your holiday-beleaguered correspondent, I am offering you something this year, and asking for something, too. First, the hard part - I am going to beg you to make a charitable donation this year, even if you have never done so in the past. Hey, I understand, believe me - I have had the child's name from the church tree that I shamefully pull out of my coat pocket after Christmas, having forgotten that one simple gift when I showered my own family with gifts large and small. It takes a few days for that particular bad feeling to go away.
But this year, there are more families in crisis than ever before, and less to give. People simply don't have it. So, if you don't have it, God bless you and enjoy your holiday, and no worries. But if you do have it - here comes the begging - please give to a local Christmas toys charity, a food bank, or a non-denominational need of your choice. Please do this soon, because they are trying to get organized right now. Toys for Tots right now is looking at empty warehouses, which means children who already know a life of hardship will not even have the needed magic of Santa to lift the spirits and put a sparkle in the eyes. Get your checkbook, get a nice cup of coffee, and sit for a moment and think about who you will write a check out to - lets say equal in value to two weeks' Dunkin' Donuts or one less gift for each of your own fortunate children - and write that amount on your check. Choose your charity, and you are good to go - you have made a difference. Thank you so much - you don't know what it means to a child.
Okay, so here is your 'get' - the story of the time Santa let me down. When I was about 6, I became enamored with what we shall term 'the world's most depressing doll.' This doll, heavily advertised on TV, was like the little matchstick girl, only sadder. She had tangled hair, sad eyes, and kind of a burlap sack for a dress. (I can't remember if she had a body, or was just a head on one of those make-up trays that girls used to love.) Anyway, something about this doll tugged at my heart, and banded bottom dress I had to have her. I dreamed of those big sad eyes at night, and imagined the way a comb would smooth out those tangled locks. My mother was very vague when I talked about her (I think the doll was named 'Donna Downer' or 'Sad Sheila') and would answer with a 'Really, dear? No, I haven't seen that commercial.' Why didn't my mother realize that there was a cold, plastic, sad doll out there that needs the love that only I, Deirdre Purcell of Silver Springs, Md., could give?
That sad doll never appeared under my tree. My father and mother gently explained (trying to talk around my sister, who was gleefully dancing in front of my face with all her fulfilled wishes) that Santa must have decided that no matter how much love I gave to that doll, she would never smile. Her big brown eyes would never turn upwards in pleasure; her lips would never curve in happiness, no matter what I did. Santa, they explained quietly as I cried, thought my love was worth more than that. I did make people happy - why, lots of people - cousins and relatives and friends, and sport dress especially them - and that was what was real. Then they presented me with another doll, who indeed looked happy to see me, and Christmas was joyfully back on.
I have thought back often to that sad doll, and how much I wanted her, and how my parents, in their wisdom, made a hard decision, but made it because 'my love was worth more.' Thanks, Mom and Dad, for a gift I have kept forever.
You can make your love worth more this holiday, and cotton wedding dress your love can cause smiles where there are tears. Please donate as you can this holiday, and make it a priority,God bless your efforts this year.
Note: if you go get your credit card right now, you can make an online donation at www.toysfortots.org. A child out there will be happier for it.


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