"What I think we should do," said Mariah, "is for each of us to say three things we learned this year, the three things that stand out the most."
The dolls always spent some time on New Year's Eve looking back at the past year. Now they were just waiting for the tea to be ready. (It has to sit in the pot for a while after you pour in the water.) This would be a good time.
All of the dolls thought about Mariah's suggestion. A year is a long time, especially in doll time. Vroni and Mandy know, however, that time goes by faster as you get older, especially after you are released from your box. (Time goes by pretty slowly in that box! Veronika was made eight years ago and Mandy was made nearly seven years ago. They both spent time in their boxes before they were let out.)
"Great idea," agreed Charlotte, who often agreed with Mariah. "Who wants to go first?"
"Let's go by age," suggested Pippa, jumping up from the floor. "starting with the oldest!" (It would give her time to think of something.)
"OK," said Veronika, looking to see if anyone wanted to object. "That means I'll have to--I'll get to--go first." She thought for a moment. "A lot has happened this year," she began, "but this was our first year with Pippa, and that made me think about how we needed to make her some clothes, because she couldn't borrow from us." Veronika smiled at Pippa, so she would know this a welcome challenge.
"The first thing I learned," Veronika went on, "was that Pippa is made just like us, but she is 80% of our size all over. That meant I could use our patterns to make things to fit her. I just needed to do some math to figure that out."
Pippa felt her eyes start to glaze over. She was interested that it was about her, but then she had trouble following some of it."
"My second thing I learned," Veronika said, as she tried to scrunch her mouth up to show that she was thinking, "Was that it's lots of fun to be in a make-believe story or a poem."
"It's like being a movie actor," she said, "except you don't have real human people rushing up to you wanting your autograph."
Veronika thought for a moment. Then she said, "I guess my third thing is that I learned that I can fit my left hand through the armhole of Pippa's best dress, but I can't get my right hand through."
"Yes!" Pippa exclaimed, rushing over to Veronika. "We found that out when we tried on each other's clothes."
"When we tried to try on each other's clothes," Veronika corrected, giving Pippa a gentle tap on the nose.
"I couldn't even begin to get your dress on," Veronika added. Then she turned to Mandy. "OK," she said, "that was my three. You're next."
Mandy had already had a few minutes to think. "Well," she began, "I don't mean to copy Veronika, but my first one had to do with Pippa and math as well. It happened when I was making your winter sweater, Pippa," Mandy continued. "I couldn't just print the pattern at 80%. That doesn't work for knitting, but I had to figure out how many stitches would be 80% of the original pattern, and then rewrite the pattern."
"Then I had to make a new graph for the stitches," she added "and that took some redesigning. Then let's see," Mandy continued. "I guess the next thing was that I learned that Pippa's face and mine are almost exactly the same, only she doesn't have freckles and red hair."
"I remember I noticed it first," Jolena put in. "Pippa was unhappy because she's so different from the rest of us."
"I was glad to know I look like Mandy," Pippa agreed, "even though I'm a lot smaller."
"What's your third thing, Mandy?" Mariah asked.
"My third thing," Mandy said, "is I learned that just because it takes you a long time to do something special with your hair doesn't mean you'll like it when you're done!"
"I thought you looked pretty," Charlotte said, and all the dolls nodded.
"It wasn't very practical," Mandy said firmly, "and I didn't look like myself."
"It's your turn, Charlotte," Billy said. He clearly wanted to get on with it.
"OK," Charlotte said, "I'm ready. My first thing was I learned that by doing something very easy and simple, like taking a book back to the library for someone when you're going there anyway, can come back and help you later on."
"The second thing," she went on, "was that I learned that when you find something that isn't yours you shouldn't keep it. You should try to find out who lost it, because they might need it."
"Finally," Charlotte concluded, "my third thing is I learned that Mariah, Jolena and I may worship in different places with different traditions, but they are more alike than they are different, and the music is lovely in all three places."
"Yes!" exclaimed Jolena, as she and Mariah both nodded. That was interesting for all three of them.
"We all could use that one," agreed Jolena, "but I have some other ones. The first thing I learned this year was Spanish. Well, I'm still learning it, but I will be able to use it when I go to South America with the Doll Ski Team next summer, and I'll probably be pretty fluent by then," she concluded confidently.
"My second thing is like one of Veronika's," Jolena went on. "I learned that it's fun to be in a made-up story or fairy tale or poem.You get to wear different clothes and do your hair differently."
"Then," she concluded, "my third thing was how Mariah taught me the difference between its and it's. I never get that wrong anymore. Mariah's a good teacher!"
Mariah would have blushed, but no one would have been able to tell. It was her turn next.
"My three things," Mariah said, "that I learned this year are first, if you cover up your hair, you still look like yourself."
"The second one," Mariah continued, "is that Valentines are more fun if you make them yourself with friends."
"The third one," Mariah concluded, "is maybe the most important of all. I learned that if you read a lot––lots of different things––and then talk about what you've read with others, it makes your writing better."
"My turn!" shouted Billy, jumping to his feet. He had been thinking about what things he had learned that he should mention ever since Mariah had suggested it. "I'll say the most important one first," Billy said when he had sat down again. "It was learning why airplanes don't have to flap their wings to fly."
"It was fun watching that plane take off," Emil agreed.
"I like that it made a lot of sense of what I already knew from doing aerials," Jolena added.
"The next thing I learned," Billy continued, "is that girls' games can be just as much fun as boys games."
"Then my third thing," Billy said, "I learned when Emil and I went out on the trail. We talked it over, and I learned that just because a classmate tells you they're good at something doesn't mean they really are. Sometimes another doll might like you to think they can do something they really can't."
"Yes," Emil agreed. "I didn't know that either. Sometimes dolls lie. They shouldn't do that. It's wrong."
"It's your turn," Veronika told Emil.
"I've thought about it," Emil began, "and my first thing is I learned is that my friend Holly can do a lot of exciting things, even though she needs a wheelchair to get around."
"My second thing," Emil said, "is that I learned that, with the right help, I can do my own tricks. I don't need a stunt double!"
"For number three," he concluded, "I learned that living things, like trees, can turn into rock under the right conditions and with enough time...a lot of time."
"That's one of mine, too," Pippa exclaimed!
"Well," Emil pointed out, "it's your turn now. You can have that one, if you like. I can come up with another one."
"It's OK," Pippa assured him. "I have plenty."
"My problem, actually," Pippa said, "is restricting the things I learned to only three!" Pippa paused and considered which ones to choose. Then she decided to just jump in and start with whatever came out of her mouth first. "First of all," she began, "I learned that dreams can't hurt you."
"Then I learned that you shouldn't go to the beach in a thunderstorm, even if you don't mind swimming in the rain," she said.
"I also learned that you can see things way out in the ocean if you have a telescope," Pippa said finally.
"But there's lots more," she added. "May I have more? This was my first year. I get to learn more my first year, right?"
"Tell us what else you learned, Pippa," Mandy said. "It will be interesting to hear." The tea would be ready soon, but it could wait. This was important to Pippa.
"Well," Pippa continued, "I learned a lot about animals. For instance, I found out how they can talk to Emil, and he hears them in his head, the way we hear each other," she explained.
"Then I also learned," Pippa continued, "that dogs and cats, and other animals, can help dolls who are pretending to be sick feel better, and that Pierre and Freckles visit sick dolls. Mandy pretended to be sick, so they could practice."
"The dogs also listen to dolls reading out loud," she said, "so the dolls can get good at it. I tried that. Freckles and Pierre didn't tell me when I said something wrong. They just listened. It helped me relax. I can read better now," she added.
"I learned," Pippa went on, "that you shouldn't nose around in the cabinets. Some of the things in there could be dangerous or private."
"Then," Pippa said, "I learned that some dolls and humans use signs with their hands to talk with each other. Emil taught me some signs to use."
"Mariah also taught me," Pippa said, "that some human beings don't have enough to eat. I learned that you can keep some real food in the car to give out to people The Writer or her husband meet when they are out shopping. Mariah let me help her put together some food that won't spoil to keep in the car."
"At Christmastime," Pippa added, "I learned that the Christmas tree didn't just suddenly grow in the living room. Wasn't that silly? And it wasn't even real; it was just a decoration!"
"I learned a big lesson on Christmas morning," Pippa said. "I got a lovely package from Santa. It was almost too pretty to open!"
"You got it open, though, didn't you?" Emil asked.
"Yes!" Pippa exclaimed. "I got it open, and I couldn't believe my eyes!"
"It was my very own copy of Alice!" Pippa cried joyfully. "It wasn't a pretend book with blank pages, either! It was a real copy of the book I've always wanted, with the drawings and everything!"
"I think," Pippa concluded, "that Santa didn't bring me the book last year because he didn't think I was ready to take care of it. I used to be careless with things, but I know now how special having your own copy of a beloved book can be!"
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.
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Copyright © 2021 by Peggy Stuart
