Bits and Pieces of My Past...

Thanks to our flooded basement, I was able to use the opportunity of going through everything in our basement to look through the few bins of memorabilia I have from childhood.  In my cedar chest and scrapbooks I have the traditional mementos - ticket stubs, report cards, certificates and awards.  I also have some well loved toys that have been salvaged and dragged from house to house, and in some cases, state to state.  Going through these toys brought back a lot of memories.  I know that I should give these items up but I can't.  

Yesterday, in a fit of wanting to clean out anything and everything that we don't use regularly, I attempted to weed through these old toys and get rid of them.  I began taking photos of them, because sometimes I just scrapbook photos of old favorite items instead of hanging onto them and never using them.  These few toys are impossible to let go of, though.  I'm not sure why.  I don't play with them.  If I ever have a child of my own, he or she will most likely be spoiled with new playthings and will  not care one iota about my beat up old dolls.  Yet, it's as if parting with these items is equal to parting with a sibling or long lost friends. 

I took the pictures, but I'm still struggling to put the items in the "donate" bin.  So I thought that perhaps sharing them here would give me some perspective and allow me to preserve the memories without hanging onto the possessions.  

Now, don't freak out when you view my first photo.  I have no idea what I named this baby doll, but it was my very first baby doll.  For many years it wore the same dress that I had been clothed in when my parents brought me home from the hospital after I was born.  This doll was adored by me, so when you look at its tattered body and limbs that are literally hanging by a thread, please don't think it so much destroyed as simply loved to bits.  What made this doll extra special to me was that my dad drilled a hole in the lips so that I could feed it a bottle.  This was extremely important to the one year old me, so that I could feed my baby at the same times my mother fed my new baby brother.

My next favorite toy was my Hugga Bunch.  Hugga Bunches came in eight colors/varieties, and I had the purple one.  They also came with little babies called hugglets.  Impkins was the name of my doll, and I loved her shiny purple outfit.  Unfortunately, she no longer has it. For some reason, most of my dolls ended their days naked.  Later, there was a Hugga Bunch cartoon, but I don't remember watching it. 

Wuzzles!  Wuzzles were animals that were made up of two kinds of animals, but all of them had wings, even if they didn't fly.  Wuzzles were also made into a cartoon, but the run was short with only something like 13 episodes.  My Wuzzle was Hoppopotimus, who was half rabbit, half hippopotamus.  She was a pushy gal who loved to sing and dance and was very, very tough.  I also still have the book that came with my Wuzzle.

Remember Popples?  I had orange Dunker Popple, who turns into a basketball.

When I was a baby, my father flew to Boston to visit a dear friend, and on his return home he purchased this Woodstock for me.  This is one I have the hardest time parting with.

And for my fifth birthday, a time when my parents didn't have two penny's to rub together, my mother made me this doll with her own two hands.  It's also one I can't seem to part with.   I love her sweet face and little freckles. 

I'm not certain the name of this toy.  I think they were called Treasure Keepers.  It came with a little plastic key to lock and unlock the lady bug's wings, and they opened up to a little compartment where all sorts of little treasure's could be kept.  This was a very prized possession at the time when I first got it.  We also had some hellions for cousins, and my mom would tell us, "Kids, hide your toys, the Johnson's are coming!" and we really would hide the toys we most prized, out of fear that our cousins would destroy our few good toys. 

*Remote not included.


My true loves were Smurfs and Fraggles, though.  I couldn't get enough of either of them, and I watched both cartoons each week.  I also stomped around the house like a Gorg singing, "Dum Dum Dum Dum de dee, catch a Fraggle give it to your Moooommmy."  I had a smurf that would talk when I pulled the string in his back.  "Watch out for Gargamel!" he would warn.  My stuffed Fraggle Red, given to me by my Aunt Red, was the outgoing, athletic and somewhat cynical control freak (hmmmm....).  

 

So there you have it.  Some of my most treasured items.   I have a few others, but I've gone on long enough and you get the picture.  

What childhood relics do you still have, and how will you eventually part with them?  I think I'm going to allow myself to keep four items and put them in my cedar chest.  The rest will have to remain with me in photograph and memory, only.  What would you do?