Dear Santa,

Big Girl wants a pony for Christmas. A REAL pony. Unfortunately, I don't think that she will get a real pony, but I did find a cute toy horse today. I bought the horse and coordinating doll, and for now they're stashed in the back of the van. After she goes to sleep tonight, I'll move them to a better hiding place. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun playing the role of Santa this year.


You may think this is strange, but I like getting Big Girl dolls that have brown hair, like her, and beyond that dolls that are varied in their appearance (instead of a gang of blond Barbies). Not that I'm exclusive about the brown hair, by any means, but given a choice between several Disney princess dolls, I picked Belle because she has lovely rich brown hair like my Big Girl. Actually, I don't think my preference for Belle over Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty is just about the hair. In Beauty and the Beast, she shows a love for reading, intelligence, common sense, and kindness, and I feel like she's less of a helpless heroine than some of the other Disney princesses. So I guess I bring a preference born of my tendency to analyze character development and attributes, like a good English major, to bear in my selection of toys for my kids. Not in a fully conscious way, of course. I don't stand in the middle of Walmart and engage in a close reading of the toys' implications or anything. I do check out the toys to see where they're made (try to avoid China), and how well they're made, and what tiny parts they have.