Presents come and go, you play with the toy for a while, then it’s relegated to a lesser favored pile.   There are some presents that survive despite the odds.   These are a few of the favored.

This doll was a present to my mom in the mid 1930’s.   The doll had a perilous existence on the reservation.   She lost a few fingers to Joe, the dog (I think Joe was aided by Mom’s brother!).   They did not have electricity, so she was safe from that.   Much later I played with her and put the makeup on her.   She is wearing a dress made by my grandmother.   I’m not sure when she moved to the city, possibly my grandmother sent her for me.

This book was a present for my father-in-law on his birthday again from the 1930’s.   It was probably his only present, because his father had died unexpectedly and they did not have a lot of money.   My father-in-law lived on a ranch ( 1 1/2 sections) in a very tiny town, where they raised a few cows.  (A section is a square mile, and the town doesn’t exist anymore.)   Standing next to the book is Howland Owl (probably mid 1960’s) from the comic strip Pogo.   He was the prize in a cereal box and perhaps my husband played with him, although my husband’s favorite toys were little green army men.   Howland survived because my mother-in-law would not throw away a dead skunk (and I love Pogo).

These cardboard army men were in my husband’s grandmother’s basement.   She gave them to me because I collect toys, but they don’t really fit in with my collection.

I still have one of the many dolls I got for Christmas, but unfortunately she is hiding in a box somewhere.   I used to have her on display, then she escaped.