Childhood Wishes...

When I was a kid there was nothing much more exciting or magical than getting the Sears Christmas Wish Book in the mail.  I would spend hours and hours poring through those catalog pages, dreaming and folding and circling and hoping and wishing and deciding which items I realistically thought I could get Santa to bring me each year...

And while Santa was always good to me and never left me empty-handed or in a state of disappointment, there were a few things I asked for or sometimes only secretly wished for (because I knew hell would have to freeze over first) that I never did get...


My own place.  And by my own place, I mean my very own playhouse in the backyard.  A place I could play with my dolls, read my books, listen to my records, play board games and just hang with my bff.  You know? A little pink house...

A genie bottle/magical powers/magic wand! Maybe I watched too many old episodes of I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched but I had all sorts of plans for the day Santa finally delivered this one.  I was going to rule the world.  Or at least just marry Shaun Cassidy.

Miniature horse.  I'm pretty sure this was one of those wishlist items I placed in the when hell freezes over category and never actually asked for but oh, how I wanted one! And I've never completely gotten over this one... The cuteness overwhelms me!

My own phone/private line in my room. Because what the heck was a cell phone or even a cordless phone? If you wanted phone privacy, you pulled that curly cord as far as you could, sneaked around the corner, and closed that door shut tight on that sucker.  And if someone else was talking on the phone and there was something you just had to talk to your bestie about right that minute?  You were just S.O.L!  

Pink carpet.  I had daydreams about pink carpet...

Persian or Siamese cat. While I've always been an animal of all kinds lover, when I was a kid I was obsessed with cats and while we did have a few when I was very young, once they were gone we never got another one.  But I always wanted me a big ol' fluffy Persian or an exotic Siamese of my very own.  I wonder what the Darling wieners would think of that? Hmm...

  
  

















Swatch watch. I can't really say why it is I didn't get one of these because they were all the rage for a time in the 80s and I remember wanting one or two or three (to stack on my arm) pretty bad at one point.  Maybe I had asked for a lot of other stuff from Santa that year or maybe I didn't realize I wanted it until after Christmas... Who knows?  But I never had one...

A pool. Georgia summers were hot and running through the sprinklers just didn't satisfy our urge to get wet.  And I'm sure this wasn't something I ever thought to ask Santa for in the month of December but it definitely stands out in my mind as something I always longed for.  My best friend and I once had the genius idea to build one ourselves by stacking bricks along the edges of the patio.  I don't think you have to ask how that turned out...

  
A puppy in my stocking. Some things never change!

Snow on Christmas Day. Living my entire life in the south, I never did get that one. Until last year... Last year, at the age of 39, that wish was finally delivered and I don't think it could have been any more magical had it happened thirty years earlier...

   
And to me, that is a perfect example of how the best, most cherished gifts of all are always those that no amount of money could ever buy...  


Though I would jump for joy and shout with glee if I woke up Christmas morning to find one of those itty bitty horses in my backyard or another li'l wiener dog in my stocking... 


I'm just sayin'.   


*This post is part of Writer's Workshop at Mama's Losin' It.