And so it begins...

I know that is an ominous title for a post, but I think it is an ominous day. A box arrived this morning. I knew to expect it. My brother, Dwight, had told me that he'd ordered my daughters' Christmas presents early just to be sure they'd get here in plenty of time.

It seemed like a perfectly innocuous box. Nothing special about it. But I'm sure my daughters would disagree. The baby, Lil' T, was present when I unleashed the beast from its brown cardboard confines. She was sworn to secrecy, and since most of her words are unintelligible to humans aside from her parents and grandmother, even if she tries to tell the secret, she'll not be understood. Inside the box was an American Girl doll.

The doll is Ivy, a Chinese American girl. Her best friend is Julie, and their story takes place in the 1970's. Heck, these girls could have been my classmates! Dwight bought the Ivy starter set which includes the book, and the Chinese New Year outfit. These items are for my older girl. The baby gets to have a matching clothing set for her hand-me-down Chinese baby doll.

My older daughter received that baby doll 5 years ago from our dear friend Sharon, who had invited us over for a pre-Christmas gift exchange for our families. It was the last holiday season we were with my father. He came with us for the gift exchange and my #2 child was only 18 months old at the time. She was not speaking a whole lot, but she sure knew how to make her preferences known. Her big brother did a lot of the speaking for her, interpreting her grunts and gestures pretty well. So well, in fact, that our daughter didn't really start speaking in earnest until our son went to Kindergarten. The little princess had a few dislikes then, a big one being inanimate objects that moved of their own accord.

Once we were in a hospital waiting room where they had an activity table set up for kids. It was one of those deals where you use magnets on the bottom of the table to move the toys on the inside of the table. Princess saw the toys move and started screaming because they seemed to do it on their own. Darling husband asked me to do it again just to see, and sure enough, Princess screamed like somebody was killing her. I guess DH thought it was funny.

Anyway, back to the gift exchange. Princess was initially enamored with the baby doll. It was a pretty little thing, complete with its own baby bear. But disaster happened when she laid the doll down. The doll *gasp* closed its eyes. This prompted a treasured moment shared with my father and me. We were watching Princess as she enjoyed her new doll but when that doll betrayed her by moving its eyes on its own accord, it brought on a flash of anger from Princess. She picked up the doll and as best as she could, tried to bite its head off. I don't mean figuratively; she tried to put her teeth into the doll's scalp. Dad and I were so taken aback by this display of toddler angst, we busted up laughing. Needless to say, Princess didn't like that doll, not one bit, but thankfully, I held on to it. Lil' T loves the doll despite the fact that it has those eyes that close on their own.

Here's what's bad about the whole American Girl phenomenon. It is a perfect storm. They've got videos, books, dolls and best of all CLOTHES. There isn't just one kind of doll, (stupid Barbie, you really blew that one) but dozens of different dolls. Each doll has its own book of historical fiction or some present day adventures, so parents think of the books as educational. All the stories are about empowering girls. Each book is just one more opportunity for your daughter to become enraptured by a doll that she just needs. A doll that has different outfits. A doll that has matching outfits for your daughter. These American Girl dolls are in my house and waiting to explode all over me on Christmas morning.

I know that it is what Princess told her Uncle Dwight she wanted for Christmas. I know it isn't his fault that he fell into the trap. But I will fault him for bringing me down into the trap with him. Damn.