Happy Holidays!

Continuing with my multicultural holiday celebrations, today is St. Lucia Day!

I learned about St. Lucia Day many years ago when I first read Kirsten’s Surprise. On St. Lucia Day the oldest daughter in her family wears a crown of candles and a white dress and invites her family to breakfast. That’s how Kirsten celebrated in her Minnesota cabin in 1854, and families in Sweden still celebrate in this way. St. Lucia is the saint of unmarried women, and many towns in Sweden will elect a young woman to lead the town in a St Lucia parade. She will wear a crown of candles and others will follow her carrying candles. Maybe because “Lucia” means light, or maybe because December 13 is one of the darkest days of the year. When I visited Sweden, it was late November, and we got about 7 hours of daylight in Stockholm! St Lucia day is lovely tradition to bring more light to the holiday season.

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2017 in Review

So, this post is 6 weeks late, but here’s a review of my 2017!

January 6: Meet Gabriela!
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January 13: Meeting Rick Steves
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January 27-28: Toronto
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February 3: Snowy Day Photo Shoot
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February 6: More Snowy Friends
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February 8-12: first trip to Disney World
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February 14: Jam Session
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February 17-19: volunteering at Girl Scout camp
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March 4: New Maplelea outfits
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March 14: Pi Day
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March 17: Puppy Love
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March 29: Sun! Maybe spring is coming!
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March 30-April 6: Peru
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April 6: my neighbors had babies!
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April 20: fun with kittens
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April 23: Tulip Festival
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April 28-30: Oregon
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May 3: Mismatched Shoes Day
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May 5-7: Salt Spring Island
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May 11: Book Signing
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May 12-14: Zion National Park
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May 26-29: second trip to Disney World (Flower and Garden Festival)
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May 31: clearance price on Lea’s Rainforest House
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June 9-19: Belgium and the Netherlands
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June 30-July 4: a Disney World birthday
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July 8: a little picnic
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July 14: Pho
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July 17: new dress! Flying Space Unicorns!
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July 19-23: Caroline goes to upstate New York (eventually I’ll write a post about it)
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July 25: weird stuff we sell at our store
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August 5: oooh, Grand Hotel
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August 11: Welcome Nanea!
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September 1-4: fourth trip to Disney World (Food and Wine Festival)
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September 19: I join the Sinfonia
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September 20: more weird stuff we sell at work
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September 28: Autumn is here
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September 29-October 1: Salt Lake City (that’s where I bought Z!)
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October 5: Z’s off to the doll hospital
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October 6: I got Tenney
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October 20-22: Chicago
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October 25: Z is back from the hospital
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October 27: a group photo
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October 31: Happy Halloween
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November 4: we did glass fusion for my sister’s birthday
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November 10-12: Olympic Peninsula
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November 13: power outage
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November 27: Christmas tree’s up!
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December 8-10: San Diego
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December 15-17: tree lighting in Leavenworth
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December 21: Last day to work before Christmas (I made all the snowflakes!)
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December 22: Four cheese spaghetti
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December 25: awesome Christmas gift
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December 29-31: New Years in Disney World
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New (and some less new) BeForever Outfits

I picked up all the new BeForever outfits a few weeks ago, immediately after they were released.  Now they’re all on sale for about 20% off.  Sigh.  But these photos I took may benefit some of you who are thinking about grabbing these items now that they are on sale.  I was gonna post a really clever story about all of them, but I ran out of energy.  I’m pretty sure I have pneumonia, because everything inside my rib cage is aching as if I’ve done hours of heavy lifting (I haven’t).

So enough complaining, and on to the photos I took a couple weeks ago!

Ivy in Julie’s coat and beret:

Kirsten in Julie’s skateboard outfit:

Mia in Julie’s Maxi Dress:

Kailey showing off Julie’s new sunglasses (she dropped Julie’s tie-dye bag behind the TV…I think I’m gonna have to punish her):

Lindsey in Julie’s Funky Flower Outfit:

Ruthie in Kit’s Springtime dress:

McKenna with Kit’s new overalls and chicken:

Isabelle in Rebecca’s bathing suit:

Julie in her holiday dress and egg chair:

Nellie in Samantha’s Special Day dress:

Felicity in Samantha’s dress:

Chrissa in Samantha’s travel set (and Samantha’s old dress):

Saige in Samantha’s Flower Picking outfit (and the hat from her hairstyling set):

Addy’s new dress:

Marie-Grace in Addy’s sewing dress:

Kaya’s new shawl outfit:

There are some really great outfits in this set.  My first thoughts were “nice, but I wish they didn’t cost so much.”  The sale prices make them just about right.  Not exactly a bargain (like $55 Julie doll from the today show), but a fair price.  I wonder how long these “limited edition” outfits will be around.  I’m also surprised Caroline and Josefina got left out for this release.  Are they on their way out?  While I would be sad to see them go, I hear we’re getting new historical characters soon!  We’ll talk more about that later.  So long for now!

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A look back…

Ever since I posted old vacation photos on Monday, I’ve been yearning for another vacation!  Too bad my boss is failing to approve any vacation requests.  So, let’s look back on the adventures that my dollies and I have been on over the last few years…

February 2013, Seattle with Leonie

April 2013, Tulip Festival with Brianne

April 2013, Oak Harbor with Saige, Elizabeth, and Mia

May 2013, Disneyland with Mini Kit

June 2013, Chicago with McKenna

June 2013, Mackinac Island with Caroline

July 2013, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia with Jenna

August 2013, the state fair with Brianne

September 2013, Rieke came home with me from London

October 2013, Albuquerque with Saige

November 2013, Disney World with Mini Dolls

January 2014, New Orleans with Cecile

March 2014, Seattle with Henriette

March 2014, Bellingham with Ruthie (and Valerie and the twins)

April 2014, UW and a Mariners Game with Sonali

April/May 2014 Maui with Kanani

May 2014, pageant in Texas with Kit

July 2014, Whistler with Taryn

July 2014, Nauvoo, Illinois with Chrissa

August 2014, the zoo with Jess

October 2014, Manitoba with Saila

December 2014, the ballet with Isabelle

January 2015, Sing-a-long Sound of Music with Kirsten

January/February 2015, Disney Cruise with Grace

Where to next?

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What I got for Christmas Part 3

Finally, the last chapter of what I got for Christmas!

My mommy has been hunting on ebay lately, and she found me 4 retired American Girl outfits!  Four!!!!  Chrissa is modeling a Halloween costume from the late 90s, Felicity is in her Spring Dress and Pinner Apron, Kirsten is in her work dress, and Samantha is in her bathing costume!  So cute!

So that’s what my dollies got for Christmas.  I got a kayak and a unicorn wearing Lederhosen.  Pretty great Christmas,  I’m a little ashamed that I will still have a Christmas tree up in February.  I wanted to leave it up for a little bit past new years, but then January slipped away from me, and I’m leaving for vacation on Tuesday, and yeah, the tree will still be up in February.  Oh well.  It’s a really pretty tree!

Merry Christmas!

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What I got for Christmas Part 1

Let’s start with a photo I found on Google:

It’s little, but you get the point!

Now, I mentioned that my mommy asked me to bring Kirsten to her house on Saturday.  She received a late Christmas present:

She’s dressed like the Little Girl in a Pale Pink Coat from the Lonely Goatherd puppet show in the Sound of Music!  Do you know why I’m so excited for this?  Because for actual Christmas, I got a dress to match!

My mommy made costumes for me and my sister to wear to Sing A Long A Sound of Music!  We went last year and wanted to participate in the costume parade this year, and my mommy stepped up to the challenge!  I knew the human sized costumes were coming when Mommy said she found the fabric, but the dolly dress was a surprise.  I had a guess when I heard the suggestion to bring Kirsten, and I’m glad my guess was good.

So I brought Kirsten to the Sing Along!  And we stopped at a bar on the way there.  Yeah, we got carded.

dolly in a bar

It was hard to photograph inside the theater, but she really was there:

It was so much fun, even though we didn’t win the costume contest!

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Forever Kaya

We made it!  Here is the last of my historical collection, Kaya.  Kaya is a Nez Perce Girl.  Nez Perce lived in areas of what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.  She has just a few outfits and a teepee:

I was hoping that Kaya would get more of a makeover for BeForever.  Would it kill American Girl to give her more outfits?

Let’s look back at everything:

Felicity

Caroline

Josefina

Marie-Grace and Cecile:

Kirsten

Addy

Samantha

Rebecca

Kit

Molly

Julie

I just want to shout out that I love the historical characters!  These oufits and accessories are what made me fall in love with American Girl the moment I got my first catalog in the 90s.  My favorite is Molly because she was my first.  Who’s your favorite?

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Forever Kirsten

Cuteness follows.  Here’s Julie in Kirsten’s school dress:

McKenna gets to be Santa Lucia:

Lindsey is ready for a journey across the plains:

Marie-Grace looks quite angelic in Kirsten’s birthday dress:

Molly loves Kirsten’s Nordic winter wear (I love it too):

Emily in Kirsten’s traditional Swedish dirndl:

Jess in Kirsten’s baking dress:

And Kirsten is wearing the striped summer dress that I bought on ebay last week:

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Forever Samantha

Say hello to Samantha, the first American Girl to come back from retirement!  Here is my Samantha collection:

I can see my mother rolling her eyes at my third dolly bicycle, but I couldn’t resist free shipping!

Here’s Samantha in the winter coat that came out around the same time as Samantha’s movie:

Marisol looks sensational in Samantha’s Cranberry Party Dress:

Here’s Gwen in the new winter coat:

Samantha’s bike is really beautiful.  Critics say it’s too modern, but someone on the dolly boards found a vintage advertisement for a bicycle that came in vermilion, and safety bicycles were first designed in 1876 according to Wikipedia.  Mia looks gorgeous in the pink hair ribbon and turquoise-accented blouse:

Here’s Caroline in Samantha’s new meet dress (which I think is pretty mediocre) and Kanani in the Frilly Frock…

…that I think is amazing!

Nellie looks quite sophisticated in the dress she borrowed from Samantha:

Molly, Marie-Grace, and Jess chillin in sleepwear:

Rebecca models Samantha’s new holiday set:

Poor Kaya is dressed to be shipped off to boarding school:

And Kirsten borrows Nellie’s dress, which happens to be her favorite color:

Best Friends Forever Elizabeth and Felicity display timeless beauty:

I have mixed feelings about Samantha’s return.  Her new collection is very pink, but I’m eager to see future releases.  Who wants to share their favorite Samantha outfit, new or retired?

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Forever Rebecca

My Rebecca collection is a bit on the small side, which makes a group photo easier:

Back row: Winter Coat and hat, Hanukkah dress, school dress, new holiday dress, school play outfit, lace dress

Front row: classic meet outfit, new meet outfit, movie star dress, summer dress, robe, pajamas

Closeups of my favorites:

Julie in the new meet outfit

Addy in the old meet outfit:

Josefina and Kit:

Kirsten in Rebecca’s pajamas, which are adorable:

Rebecca’s lace dress is one of my favorite dresses on anyone, including Elizabeth:

How cute is that headband from Rebecca’s school play set on Ivy?:

Let’s see what other photos I can find of Rebecca’s outfits:

Just a few, but all beautiful!  Have a nice day!

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