A Tale of Two Dollies

It was the best of plans, it was the worst of plans. Norah had been asking for an "Ellie doll" for Christmas since September. (Translation: a Bitty Baby, like her good buddy Shelby has. Shelby's doll is named "Ellie"). I started pricing dolls in early October, then decided to get serious and make the big purchase online in early November, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but "Bitty Babies are currently back ordered until December 27th".

So, I did what many moms would have done in my predicament. I started searching for a suitable replacement. After all, Norah's two, would she really know the difference? I discovered a competing company who had what looked to be really sweet dolls, so I ordered one. Naturally, Norah saw me checking the status of my order online a few days later and said, "That's not Ellie, Momma". Great. She already smells a rat.

A week and a half later, the postman delivered "the package". I quickly thought of a diversion for Norah and barricaded myself in my room to check out Norah's Christmas wish fulfillment. I opened the box, and recoiled with terror when I saw it. The photo doesn't nearly do her justice. In addition to a squarish, badly bloated torso, her skin (which the web site described as "fair complected") was a dark, fake bake-esque orange , and her eyes were a piercing shade of electric turquoise that made me almost afraid to gaze too deeply into them for fear of being drawn into some kind of wierd, voodoo trance. Her "hair" was a greenish-yellow spray painted section at the crown of her head, with random slits cut into it, in a vain effort to resemble strands of stray hair. I wanted to cry. There was no way Norah was gonna buy that this monstrosity was her sought-after, beloved, Ellie, which, I might add, she had now begun praying for on some occasions. I showed her to Jason and his immediate reaction was, "I hope you're sending that back!" Which is exactly what I did.

The next day, I did what I probably should have done as soon as I realized the dolls were back ordered. I hit up Ebay. Did I pay more than double the original cost of a new doll. Yes. Was it worth it? Every penny. (Thank goodness for all of those sock monkey sales!) The "real" Ellie arrived two days before Christmas and I was most relieved to see that she had a sweet, angelic, face. I will be the first to admit, I am beyond picky when it comes to baby dolls, but "Ellie" was, by my standards perfect. I love that she just looks classic, plain, and sweet.

On Christmas morning, Norah opened and appreciated each of her gifts, never once complaining that none of them contained an Ellie doll. (We had set it back, away from the other gifts to save for last) The rest of us got busy visiting, and Norah found "the package" unbeknownst to any of the adults. The next thing we knew, we heard a loud exclamation, "It's my Ellie doll! Santa brought me an Ellie!!"

During the wait for Ellie's arrival, Gramps and I had worked diligently on Norah's Christmas dress and a matching dress for Ellie. I dressed Ellie in her Christmas dress before I wrapped her, and and since since Norah had worn her Christmas dress a few times prior to Christmas (for all the work that went into that dress, I was determined she would wear it more than once!), she immediately recognized that Ellie's was a match to her own. "Look, Mommy! She has a princess dress just like mine!"

Ellie went everywhere that Norah did (including several trips to the potty), all day long. And, despite several attempts to convince her to bestow "Ellie" with a more original name instead of ripping off her friend's baby's name, Norah has stuck to her guns and dug in her heels, in true, (almost) three year-old fashion, insisting each time that, "her name is Ellie".