The dolls always like to sit in front of the fire on New Year's Eve and talk about their favorite memories of the past year. It has become a tradition, so that's what they're doing this year.
"Why don’t we just go around in the circle in order," Veronika said. "Let’s start with you, Mandy!"
"I knew we were going to do this," Mandy began, "so I’ve been thinking about it."
"I think my favorite adventure this year," she said, "was the trip to visit all the yarn stores. I got to pick out some yarn to take home."
"I was shopping with real human people, too," she added, so I could watch them and see how they act."
Mandy explained, "They were so busy looking at the yarn and the notions (NO-shuns are those things like knitting needles, buttons and other things knitters need besides yarn) they didn’t seem to notice me, so I checked out the notions, too."
"You got to go in the car with The Writer," Pippa put in. "It’s fun, when you get to do that!"
All the dolls have gone places with The Writer without the other dolls or with only one or two others. They call it an excursion (ex-KER-shun). It's a chance to learn things. You can learn a lot at home and at school, and you can learn from reading, watching TV and talking to your friends, but there are some things you can only learn by going out places.
Mariah had interviewed Mandy about her trip after she came home. "It was fun hearing all about your trip," she said. "It was fun writing down what you said about it and making it into an article for the school paper!"
"I’ll go next," Mariah suggested. It was logical, if they were going around in a circle. She was seated next to Mandy. "My favorite was an excursion, too. It was when Charlotte and I got to go in the fifth wheel with The Writer and her husband. We went to the ocean!"
"I was going to use that one!" Charlotte exclaimed.
"Let’s tell about it together," Mariah suggested. "We did it together, so we can talk about it together."
"That's perfect!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Going somewhere camping with a trailer is fun, but when you do it with your best friend, it’s even more fun!"
"Remember when we took our beach chairs out to the water?" Mariah asked.
"There was a lot going on;" Charlotte said, "boats, seals and birds, so it was fun to watch, and I remember that The Writer said it was an estuary (ES-tyu-air-ee). That's where the fresh water from the river comes down to the ocean."
"And an estuary is where the tide comes in," Mariah added, "so the salt water mixes with the fresh water from the river." They had learned a lot from that trip.
"It was fun sleeping in the trailer," Charlotte reminded everyone. "It’s just like a little house, only it has wheels, so it can be moved to other places."
"The Writer let us cook for them, too," Mariah remembered. "We got to cut up the vegetables for pizza."
"Then we washed the dishes in the dishpans in the cute little sink," Charlotte agreed.
"When we were getting ready to go home," Mariah said, we helped put the big pole in on the roof of the slide-out, so it would stay in when we were driving home. We were a lot of help."
"That was so much fun," Charlotte said with a sigh.
"I guess I’m next," Jolena said, when the two friends showed that they were done. All the dolls gave her their attention, interested to hear what she thought was the highlight of the year for her.
"I guess my favorite memory is when I was in the Doll Olympics," she told them. "I had the best run I’ve ever had and was in First Place for a while.
The other dolls remembered that they thought she was going to win, or at least get a medal, but some of the skiers who still had to have their turn were better, and she had come in Fourth Place. Fourth Place doesn't get a medal at the Doll Olympics.
"We we’re worried that you would feel bad," Pippa said, thinking back, "and you had done such a great job!"
"I guess I was a little disappointed," Jolena agreed, "but you called me up and told me how good it looked on TV. That made me really happy!"
"Later," Jolena went on, "the coach showed me the video of my best run. She was really happy with it. It was perfect, but the skiers who scored higher had more difficult tricks. It will give me something to work on, to learn some of them. Working on something new is exciting!"
"I always like to have something new to learn," Billy said, and all the dolls agreed. It's always fun to learn something new.
Now it was Emil's turn. He had been thinking over the past year, which had been great.
"I think," he began, "my favorite memory was when Mariah and I dressed in costumes and were in the story about two dolls who were lost in the woods. It’s fun to pretend to be someone else for a while," he added.
"That story ended up in the book," Billy said. (He had been in a story in the new book, too.)
"I got to pretend to clean the oven," Mariah said. "I’ve never pretended to clean an oven before."
"It isn’t really that much fun," Jolena, who spends a lot of time in the kitchen, told her, "when you have to get it clean for real, and something has spilled over in it, but it’s so satisfying when it’s done."
"I got to pretend to mop the floor," Emil said. "I suppose that isn’t so much fun if you really have to do a good job, but it’s nice to have it done, too."
"I think, though," Emil concluded, "the most fun part was when we pretended to be in danger and had to escape!"
"It’s fun to pretend to be afraid when you aren’t, really," Mandy said. "A lot of rides at an amusement park are based on scaring you while keeping you safe."
They all agreed with that. A lot of play is pretending something awful could happen, but you know it won’t really. They had all done it.
Now it was Billy's turn. "You will all be very surprised, maybe," he told them, "but my favorite memory from this past year was when Pauly and I got into trouble at school."Billy was right. They were surprised. They all remembered that, too. They had gone out of the school yard to get the ball, and that was against the rules!
"Jackson and Parker got into trouble with us," he said, in case someone had forgotten that fact. "We all had to stay after school and write on the board that we wouldn’t break the rules again," he said. "We had to write it over and over. Pauly had a hard time because he’s so short. He didn’t get very far when the rest of us were done. Parker and Jackson didn’t like that Pauly hadn’t finished the job when the teacher told us we could all go."
"The others got mad," Billy went on, but I told them that it was a lot more work for Pauly, because he’s so small. They should give him a break. He had worked just as hard for just as long."
"The teacher looked at me and closed one eye," he said. "She has those eyes that can close."
"When I came home," Billy said, "I told Mariah and Emil about it. Mariah told me that was something called a wink, and the teacher was letting me know I had done the right thing to understand and stick up for Pauly."
"I think it’s my favorite memory because I found out I could do something right, after feeling bad for breaking the rules and getting punished."
All the dolls could see that it would make him feel proud, which is so much better than feeling guilty. It was a good lesson to learn. Emil gave his buddy a fist bump, and Pippa decided she was going to have to ask what that meant.
"It’s my turn!" she exclaimed, though. "My favorite memory is a long one," she said. "I mean, it didn’t just happen at one time. It happened over months and months."
This had them all curious. "It started," she said, "when Pauly came to live with Jeffy. I finally had a friend my size, who has all the problems I have with being short. We were friends right off, because we are the only ones who are so small, but I had no idea how great it was going to be!"
"Every time we do something together," Pippa told them, "I feel like a normal-sized doll!"
"It’s so nice to help him get to know things, too," Pippa added. "I know some things he doesn’t, so I can teach him, but there are a lot of things neither one of us knows, and we can learn those things together! He even knows some things I don't, so I can learn from him!"
Pippa was done. She turned to Veronika. "Your turn!" She exclaimed. It was indeed Veronika's turn. She was the only one left.
"Well," Veronika began, "so many things have gone through my mind as we’ve been sitting here, talking about the past year. I have so many happy memories with all of you, but I think my favorite memory is happening right now."
"I’ve enjoyed teaching others things I know," Veronika told them, "because when you teach something, you learn it better than you did before."
"I've also learned new things from all of you, too," she added. "I may have been out of my box longer than any of you, but each of you knows stuff I don't know, so I can learn new things from you. Learning is fun!"
"But whether teaching or learning, sharing things with your family," she said, "is the best thing ever!"
"I wonder," Billy mused, "what it feels like to wink."
It was something none of them could teach him, because they didn't know. Their eyes don't close.
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 © 2022 by Peggy Stuart
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