A few years ago I received my first ever American Girl doll (the one that Emma is holding). Her name is Nellie and she is the best friend to Samantha. When she first came out I was floored since it's very rare that a doll has ever looked like me! Usually if they have strawberry blonde hair they have green eyes, or if they have blue eyes the hair is too red. Nellie however had strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes (just like me!) and I knew instantly that I must own her! American Girl then started retiring their original historical dolls and I am pretty sure that I practically begged Dave to get her for me. And so, the Christmas that she and Samantha were set to be retired he did. When we opened the box that day the girls were in awe at how much she looked like me. Since I did not have any place to display her she stayed in her box until recently.
Around the time that Nellie was being retired an American Girl store opened at the mall near us. Being that I am not a huge fan of NYC this made my heart sing. Now, we could go and not have to trek into NYC to do so! We took the girls there to the Bistro and that is where they got to meet the dolls for the first time. Grace instantly took to Felicity and Emma to Kit. When they were getting ready to retire Felicity we bought her and tucked her away for one day down the road when Grace was a wee bit older. And until recently we had thought that Felicity would be the doll given to Grace this Christmas. It all changed when we watched the latest American Girl movie this Summer. From that point on she was all about McKenna. "Mama, I hope that one day McKenna can come live with us." was a frequent statement after that. And so, this Christmas Grace's wish will come true! McKenna will be coming home to live with us!
With that in mind we had decided that Felicity would come into play whenever. And the other night, as Em tucked Nellie into bed with her Grace looked up at me and said: "Mama, remember that other doll we found in your closet? Do you think that she could come and sleep with me tonight?" So, seeing no reason why not, Felicity was brought out of her hiding spot (where she had been discovered by two curious little girls a couple months earlier) and tucked into bed with Grace. And from that point on Grace and Felicity and Emma and Nellie have been almost inseparable.
So, this Christmas Grace will be receiving McKenna and Emma will be receiving Penelope ('cause well, when you have a child that loves horses as much as Emma does it just makes sense to go with an equestrian doll). One day down the road we'll make sure that Emma receives Kit too. This way each girl will have one historical doll and one modern day doll. Plus, I just love Kit and with how much she looks like Em it just needs to be!
