I'm Dreaming Of a Fake Christmas...........

........just like the ones I used to know.  Consider this a 'part two' to my Thanksgiving post of holiday memories from the past.

I'll begin by telling you that I did not grow up in a needy family.  We lived a very middle-middle class lifestyle in a three bedroom brick ranch in the suburbs.  Otherwise, this story wouldn't be so funny.  There's your disclaimer.

Most kids develop a wish list every December 1st and I was no different.  Although I can't remember many gifts I asked for or received, there were some presents that stood out to me over the years, because they were NOT what I had asked for.  I have no idea why my parents chose to gift me with these imposters, but here they are:

In contrast to the dozens of Barbies my own daughters received, I owned two, which was more than sufficient.  The doll on the right is one of them.  This is NOT a Barbie doll.  My seven year old self realized this when she read the box and it said 'Dawn' or some such name from the '70's.  Why my parents didn't ante up the extra buck to get me a real Barbie was beyond my second grade comprehension.

After having played Monopoly at friends' houses, I really, really wanted my own board game with those nifty silver playing pieces.  Instead, I received this fake version, where you chose to be red or blue, instead of getting to move a cool Scottie dog or top hat around the board.  Even more disappointing, I had no one to play it with, as my little brother thought it was as boring as my parents must have, who would play board games with us about once a year.

This one really got my goat.  When I began junior high school, everyone wore Levi's.  It was quite the rage for kids to try to tear the Levi tag off of each others' butts, leaving you without the mark of capitalism on your behind.  Unfortunately for me, I did not realize that I had to designate to my mother that I wanted boy's Levi jeans.  I didn't realize that the jeans also came in girl styles, which no female at my junior high wore.  When I got these girl jeans, I tried to expalin that this was not what I wanted.  I, like every other public school kid without a uniform, wanted to look like all my classmates.  My mother, to this day probably, could not understand why a girl wanted to wear boy's jeans.

Fortunately, I was not alone in my pain.  My brother asked for Legos and this is what he got.