The story of how each of my current dolls joined my American Girl collection! Featuring lots of pictures, including lots of terrible, low quality pictures taken on my former phone.
Samantha
I loved looking through every new catalog as they arrived and admiring all the pretty dolls and items inside. My wish list was a mile long, I'm sure, but Samantha was always at the very top of it. I loved her beautiful dresses, and her fancy furniture, and how she had brown hair and brown eyes just like me!
But I was the oldest child in a constantly increasing family (five kids altogether), and my parents' budget definitely did not extend to plonking down $82 for just one doll. I kept asking and wishing and dreaming and hoping, until I turned nine, when one of my aunts showed up to my birthday party carrying an unmistakably doll box shaped gift...
A Samantha of my very own, that most of my mom's family had pooled their money to buy for me! I was so excited.
Unfortunately while I did remain interested in Barbie for another four years, my American Girl interest waned within the next year or two. I didn't have anyone to play with her with, since my neighborhood friends didn't have American Girl dolls and I wasn't allowed to bring Samantha to school to play with my clasmates and their dolls, and my family didn't have the money (or interest) to buy me anything else from her collection (though Miss Barb made me a few Samantha outfits, and I got a few dresses from craft fairs and a bed from Wal-Mart). Eventually Samantha spent a few years in my younger sisters' hands, and then quite a few years in my closet, and American Girl was an all but forgotten childhood memory, until I ran across Nethilia's blog (LiveJournal, at that time) a decade later and my long dormant interest in American Girl came quite vividly back to life.
Cécile:
Once upon a time, I went to an American Girl store for the very first time at the end of 2011, saw Cécile in person, and immediately fell head over heels in love, something that has only ever happened to me with one other doll. (We'll get to the second in a little while.) I knew then that I wanted to have a Cécile of my own at some point, and spent a great deal of 2012 dreaming and wishing and trying to make it work in my budget. But I just couldn't get past the hurdle of imagining paying full price for a doll.
Then a miracle happened in December of 2012: Jill's Steals and Deals. This was a program that American Girl sold excess stock through on several occasions between 2012 and 2014 (2014? 2015?) at an exorbitant price drop. This resulted in a lot of savings for everyone lucky enough to order in time, and also drama. A lot of drama. A lot of drama.
It also resulted in me being able to order Cécile and her accessories for $50.
Me being me, I still wrung my hands a lot about it. She was going to be my fifth doll that year, and I had bought and resold three more. Could I handle five dolls? Did I really deserve her? Should I just hold onto her for a little while, then resell her? Yes, that was the best solution, I decided. I wasn't going to get attached. She was a temporary resident who would eventually pay off.
Then FedEx's tracking tricked me into thinking that she would get here days sooner than she really did, and the ensuing disappointment made me realize that I was anything but unattached. By the time I pulled her out of her box (at work, because I was so excited that one of my sisters actually drove the package over for me when it arrived) I knew she was mine.
Addy:
December 2012 was also when I moved out of my parents' house for the first time, back to my hometown.
I had gotten one of my coworkers, dearest friends, and all-around favorite people into American Girl collecting earlier in the year. (Sidebar: I've actually owned three different Josefinas since getting into American Girl, and the first Josefina I owned was the very first American Girl doll this person ever saw in person. She fell completely in love, of course, and I ended up selling that Josefina to her a few months before I moved. I couldn't part them!) As Christmas approached, a few of my coworkers, including this friend, asked me what all I needed for the apartment. She took particular interest when I mentioned wanting a tea kettle, asking me for specifications, so I assumed that that was what she would give me and thought nothing more of it.
Until I opened this box...
And out popped Addy.
I was... I don't know if there's even a word for it. Shocked? Stunned? Completely floored? It meant the world to me, and still does.
I had never really thought about having an Addy before that day, though now I'm not sure why. She has a really lovely, comforting presence to her.
Ivy:
Ivy has the distinction of being the only doll in the collection who I purchased at full price from American Girl. I wasn't initially interested in her when I got back into American Girl, but she grew on me more and more all the time. When retirement rumors started heating up in 2014, I had a sharp, kneejerk sense of panic at the thought of missing out on adding Ivy to my collection, so when @restringingorder & I went to the New York store in March of 2014, I chose an Ivy of my very own.
While I have definitely considered reselling her at a few especially low points, I'm pretty sure she's here forever. She's not the doll that gets the majority of my attention anymore, but deep in my soul she's always going to be my favorite.
So that was where the collection stood for almost a year...
Josefina:
Remember the friend of mine who bought me Addy? The first Josefina I owned was the very first American Girl doll this person ever saw in person. She fell completely in love, of course, and I ended up selling that Josefina before that move in 2012. I couldn't part them!
And for my birthday in 2015, she bought me a Josefina of my own. I scoured eBay (we both knew the importance of me feeling drawn to just the right one, of course) and found one at a great price. She was wearing her Christmas dress, too, which has always been one of my favorite American Girl outfits. It was like a sign!
That was that, I decided. Five is my ideal number. I'm set. I'm good. This is it.
... Then I bought and resold a #38.
Five is really it, I told myself again. I don't need any more dolls. If anything, I should downsize some more.
And then, later in the year, I decided to move again. Across the country this time. Which stirred up a lot of anxiety, which sent me looking for a distraction, which had me scouring the secondary market during the Christmas season, which led to me stumbling across...
Youngji:
I saw the sale pictures of her, thought she was cute, then moved on. After all, I didn't need another doll, and even if I did #4 wasn't on my radar.
I checked the thread again a few days later, still thought she was cute, then moved on.
I checked the thread again.... You get the picture.
No, I told myself. No, no no. I'm already moving five dolls across the country. I don't need to add a sixth. No. No, no, no--
But I had sold a lot of items on eBay in preparation for the move, and I was stressed, and she was cute, and, well, Merry Christmas to me! No regrets. She has a lot of personality, incorporating K-pop into my AG collection has been fun, and just... everything about her has been fun. She's a great addition to the group.
Winifred:
Two months later, my coworker/dear friend/etc offered to buy me a doll for my birthday. I had been vaguely regretting reselling the previous #38 I owned: not in the way where I thought that that particular #38 had been meant to be mine, after all, just in the way where I thought it would be nice to have a #38 in my collection. So I scoured eBay, waited, put out feelers on a message board... and then a TLC #38 showed up on eBay, and I knew she was mine.
No regrets on that front, either. I especially can't imagine having Youngji without Winifred. They are definitely a set, in my eyes.
As those of you who follow me on Instagram might recall, I then bought and resold a #26. You also might recall that I spent a lot of time pining for Melody, and wishing for the days when I'd be in the financial position to have one of my own...
Melody
Well, along came Christmas morning of 2016. My roommate, her family, and I all opened our presents one at a time, until there were two big boxes left. I knew one was for my roommate's daughter, and assumed the other was as well.
Until my roommate turned to me and announced that it was mine and I was to open it as the last present of the morning.
Startled, I obeyed, only to find Melody waiting for me! My roommate and two of our other friends (one who got back into AG along with us in 2012, the other of whom has yet to give in BUT WILL SOMEDAY) went in together and ordered her for me during one of the recent sales. Definitely one of the best Christmas memories I have. ♥
And here's where my collection stands! I'm thinking the lineup won't be the same in next year's picture, but who can say. It's going to depend on a lot of things. All I know is that it's pretty great as it stands right now, too. ♥
*sniff*
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