A Special Christmas Tea Party - Updated

This was originally posted in 2016, so somethings have changed...I have added an update in the story below.  It's Saturday, a good day to play with our dollies, don't you think? And it's always a good day to have a tea party, any day is fine for that!!  So, without further ado, here is the repeat performance of the Dollie's Christmas Tea Party:

Original Post 12/6/2016
This will be a little different than my usual "Advent" posting.  I just felt like playing with my dolls today.  I know what you're thinking...."She's HOW old? And STILL plays with dolls???"  Well...no one ever said that dolls were just for little girls!  Sometimes BIG girls need to play with dolls as well. Call it therapy, if you wish.  That's probably pretty close to the truth!

Anyway, I've had this thought in my head for a while...that I wanted to have a Christmas Tea Party with my dollies!  So, today being a rainy day (!!! hooray!!! First rain in over a month!!), and also being a day that my mind needed a little escape from reality for a while...and since little by little the Christmas decorations are coming out of their boxes....it just seemed like the right time to do this! So here goes:

This is Margie and Valerie, all dressed up in their Christmas finery and ready to get this party going.
Margie (on the left), was given to me by my Aunt Margie for my 7th birthday...and is perhaps my most treasured doll. My mother made her lovely rose taffeta dress, complete with pantaloons and petticoats.  

Valerie (on the right) is also a very special doll, given to me by my Daddy when I was already grown up and married.  An interesting side note on this doll, when I opened the box on Christmas and saw her, I decided that I would name her "Valerie".  After declaring to every one that was what her name would be, I looked on the back of the box that she came in, and it said, "My name is Valerie"...I kid you not! 

I couldn't leave my sweet little Madame Alexander dolls and one Ginny doll out of this special event.  They spend most of their time sitting in my china closet, and never get out much.  So today they have been invited to this special tea party, and they brought their own dollies along as well!  From left to right, we have Miss Scotland, given to me by my mother (when I was already an adult...yes...I've been getting dolls for all my life...), and then next to Miss Scotland is my first Madame Alexander Doll, named Wendy. She was given to me by my Grandma Mursch when I was a little girl. She has red hair (like me! when I was a little girl).  Next to her is Miss Ireland,  a gift from my mother...she also has red hair!  And last but not least is Ginny, my sweet little Ginny doll, a gift from my Grandma Mursch when I was a little girl.  The miniature Madame Alexander dolls are actually Hallmark tree ornaments, and each one was a  gift to me from my sweet big sister Doris...who knows how much I love my dollies.  (I think she's kind of like me on that subject as well.)

This lovely group of young ladies I have named "The Martin Sisters", after my mother in law and her three sisters.   From left to right we have Daisy, Nellie, Dorothy, and Vivian.  Vivian is named after my mother in law because she looks the most like her...tall, blonde, with pretty green eyes. The other girls also look similar to their namesakes (who have all passed on to heaven, except for Vivian, who is 93+)(UPDATE 2018: They are ALL enjoying heaven together now, since my mother in law, Vivian, entered heaven's gates this past August at the age of 95! I can just hear them all laughing and enjoying heaven together with their beloved parents. What a tea party that must be!) with the exception of the doll named Daisy. Daisy wasn't a brunette or so dark complected, but I needed someone to be her in this little grouping, and so that's how she was named that way.  The other two, Nellie and Dorothy, really do look similar to the real gals!

So here they are, having their tea party and so much fun!!!

Oh, I almost forgot some other special dolls who came along for the party:

This little girl, holding her dolly, I've named Pammy, because my mother gave me this doll one year for Christmas (again, after I was an adult), specifically because of the little plaid taffeta Christmas dress that she made for her.  If you look at the picture to the right, and below here:

you will see an old snapshot of my sister Doris (left), with her bride doll, and me (right), with a baby doll, and we are wearing plaid taffeta dresses that our mother made for us when we were little girls. The note is from my mother, if you can decipher it!  My sister's bride doll was very special, as it actually belonged to our mother when she was a little girl, and was quite fragile. She was named "Florence", after my mother's oldest sister who died at the age of two years, before my mother was even born, so she never knew her.  (For more about THAT story, click HERE)

Of course, No doll tea party would be complete without my sweet baby Elva, all dressed up in her little Christmas dress and stockings.  She has her "Bear Bear" the polar bear, that has been her constant companion since 'birth'.  For more about Baby Elva, Click HERE.

This Christmas, baby Elva has a new playmate, her cousin "Pearl":

Pearl actually belongs to my mother in law, and she is named after her mother, Pearl Sarah Elizabeth Waters Martin.  My mother in law found this baby doll in a closet at her house, and really didn't know where she came from, so we cleaned her up and named her Pearl.    So Pearl is dressed in a cute sleeper that says "My First Christmas", since this will be her first Christmas here with us.  I know Elva appreciates having a playmate her own size:

So, let's see who else came to our tea party:

Ho! Ho! Ho!  There's Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, and they brought their own Santa Train Tea Pot for the party!  Wave at the Santa Engineer!!


Oh, here's another of my favorite "dolls"...the little china Christmas doll, which was a Christmas gift from my Grandma Mursch when I was a young girl!  She has managed to survive many Christmases and moves and welcomes our guests as they arrive for the party!  She even has her own little ceramic Christmas tree and sled with gifts, and a toy train around the tree.  I see a little wooden Santa peering around the tree...

Here's a couple of other Santas who have come to enjoy the party... This first one brought a dollie for some lucky little girl:

And this Santa came out of the woods and takes care of the birds...

Well, last, but certainly not least, we have the most important guests of all:

Here's Mary and Joseph, and the Baby Jesus...the real reason we have this celebration of Christmas:

And they have some special guests as well:

There's the shepherd boy with his sheep, and the three Wise Men, who have traveled from afar as they followed the star...and the angel...who said to the shepherds,

"Do not be afraid, for behold, 

I bring you good tidings of great joy

which will be to all people.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David,

a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be the sign to you:

You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths,

lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host

praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the Highest,

and on earth peace,

goodwill toward men!""

Luke 2:10-14 

I hope you have enjoyed this special Christmas Tea party with my dollies and friends.  Sometimes we just need to take a break from the harsh realities of life and do something that makes us feel like a child again.  

Jesus said to His disciples in Mark 10:14-15:

"Let the little children come to Me,

and do not forbid them;

for of such is the kingdom of God.

Assuredly, I say to you,

whoever does not receive the kingdom of God

as a little child will by no means enter it."

I believe that we need to have the faith of a little child again...and trust in God to hear our prayers and solve our problems and heal our wounds.  Thank you.

Current Thought (2018)...We are anticipating a move to a "downsized home" in the upcoming year. I've been debating on whether or not to keep all of these dollies. I need your input here, ladies.  What would YOU do???????