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Baby Busters 1965 -1980
Anderson County, South Carolina
Now Residing in Gulf Coast Region of Texas
One toy I had that survived my childhood, but apparently not this last move, was a teddy bear. Teddy was my favorite toy. I do not know when I first got this bear. I don’t remember ever not having it. I slept with Teddy always and he even went to college with me and into my first married home. Teddy was my life buddy as far as I was concerned. He knew all my childhood secrets and fears and held many of my tears as I cried myself to sleep most nights. I loved the fur off of that bear. Now, I have no clue where he got off to. I hope that I will find him again someday. He was at our last house; I even made him pajamas because he had lost even more fur. But, like our wedding album, he doesn’t seem to have made it to Texas with us.
The toy that I wanted most as a child was a dollhouse, but I never got one. The closest that I got to a dollhouse back then was The Sunshine Family Treehouse, which wasn’t at all the same. My husband bought me a beautiful dollhouse on our honeymoon. It was stolen when our storage building was stolen. Not broken into, mind you…they took the entire building and all of its contents.
For the most part, my toys were gender-specific. That is just how it was back then. My daddy had very clear ideas of what was for boys and what was for girls and what was appropriate for the various genders to talk about, in mixed company or same company. You didn’t wander off those guidelines unscathed. It was fine by me as far as the toys were concerned, though I did sometimes ride on my brothers’ tractor and car.
I don’t remember us having an overabundance of toys at any one time, though pictures that I’ve seen of Christmas mornings showed us making a pretty good haul most Christmases.
What was your favorite childhood toy? Do you still have it? If not, what happened to it?
McClendon Villa 
don’t be shocked but I did not had any toys as a child, had lots of books to read though! 🙂
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I’m sorry that you didn’t have toys as a child, but very glad that you had books. With books, a child can go most anywhere. They are great for the imagination and building dreams. Have a great day.
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I find it very interesting that thieves bothered with a doll house! Must have been a very nice doll house or his daughter had been nagging him for one! :D. I too didnt have too many toys as a child in fact didnt much care for them – my kid sis had to nag me to play with toys. I preferred to read and there was never enough books!
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The thieves took everything, including the building. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I was shocked to go home and find an empty space where the building had been. I have always loved to read, too. I was always happy to get a new book. What was your favorite book as a child?
Have a great day!
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How shocking to find an entire building missing! Find it difficult to even imagine it. I read anything and everything I could lay my hands on Enid Blyton Perry Mason series, Agatha Christie Wodehouse, Alistair Maclean 😀 I remember loving them all equally!
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It was quite shocking.
I’ve never read any of the Perry Mason books, but David and I used to watch the show every day at lunch time many years ago. 🙂
Have a blessed day.
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You were lucky to have a teddy that you loved the fur off. My brother had a koala bear that he did that with but I was given a similar koala and he was so unloved that his fur remained intact. I loved that you made him PJs. I hope he turns up somewhere. You have brought back memories of wanting a dolls house also. I had to smile at your storage shed being taken but I guess it really wasn’t funny. Great to have your addition and to know that at your point, for you at least, you were still being given gender specific items.
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I found the comment. Somehow, it ended up in the Spam folder. Sorry about that. I have always wanted a koala bear. When we thought we were moving to Australia, I was looking forward to getting to see one in real life, outside of a zoo. I wanted one as a pet, though I am sure that probably was not something we could have done. Why didn’t you love your koala? Thank you for the good wishes for me finding my bear. What kind of doll house did you want? The kind that David bought me on our honeymoon was like an old Southern plantation house, with the big columns along the porch. It had two levels. In a way, it reminded me of Tara on Gone With the Wind.
I think gender specific toys were the rule for most everybody in the area where I grew up. All of the little girls that I knew got “girl” toys and the boys got “boy” toys. We had to dress for our gender, too, at school. Girls wore dresses and so did the teachers. The grownup men wore ties. But, that’s another topic entirely. Thanks for such a fun writing challenge. Have a great day! (Or night!)
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Glad you found the comment. We used to have a farm with koalas living in the gum trees. My German Shepherd used to find them for me and stand at the bottom of the tree and stare up until I too was staring. Once I’d seen it he would move on to find the next animal. At mating time it would sound as though a pig was living up the tree. The sound was loud. Otherwise we never heard them and without Mungo would rarely have seen them. I don’t know why I didn’t love my koala. Maybe I didn’t need the security that my brother got from it.
My dream doll house was also two storey, pink but I have no strong thoughts about the outside. There is a house down the road from me that always reminds me of Tara and it has kangaroos grazing around on the grass outside it.
I agree. Gender specific for me also. All the photos of me I am wearing a dress until I leave home. Then the pants start appearing. There are a couple at the beach where I have shorts on but that is it.
It is night at the moment. You are probably in the morning but I can’t be sure. Whatever it is have a great day.
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Thank you. It is morning here right now (6:57am Friday).
I am glad that your brother was able to get the security he needed and that you were apparently a very secure little girl. 🙂
German Shepherds are great dogs. We used to have a Shepherd/Chow mix and she was as sweet as could be, but fiercely protective. Her name was Shep. It sounds like you all have lots of interesting creatures wandering around. We have lots of raccoons come to visit our yard, and snakes, and all sorts of spiders. There are wild hogs and coyotes around our area, but I have never seen either in our neighborhood.
Thank you for sharing more of your story with me. Have a wonderful night!
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Raccoons and coyotes are foreign to me. You are probably lucky you don’t see them in your house or neighbourhood.
Again it is morning for you. Have a great day.
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I often open our back door to find a raccoon staring at me and then running off. I think I’ll have a heart attack if that ever happens with a wild hog or coyote. Those things are very dangerous. I hope that you have a great day…or rather, night, too. 🙂
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One person recently arrived home to find a koala sitting on her lounge. She had to get the koala rescue people to come and return it to the bush. Although they look cuddly they can be quite vicious. I know I wouldn’t want a hog coming to visit although I know pet pigs are quite sweet …. a hog…. I think not.
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Oh my. I bet that was a jolt for her!
I think that koalas are adorable, but have heard that they can be pretty mean if provoked. I guess that would be true of all animals, including humans. Back when we lived in South Carolina, someone’s pet pig came to visit our yard. It was a cute little pot-bellied pig. The kids had never seen one before and it upset some of them quite a bit.
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I enjoyed reading about your favorite toys. Hope you find Teddy Bear! I loved my stuffed animals, too, and had a bunch of them. Also had lots of books. Still have the very first one I learned to read, which is “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”. I don’t remember our toys being gender specific. We had all kinds, from dolls to cap guns, tea party sets, to toy trucks! We had fun with them all. :0
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I think I remember reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff, too. 🙂 My brothers had cap guns and cool toys like that, and I played with them sometimes, but they were bought specifically for them. My daddy would have had a cow, though, if he thought my brothers were playing with our dolls! They were all fun. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a blessed day!
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You’re welcome! I don’t think little kids know the difference between girl toys and boy toys until it’s pointed out to them. Kids just like what is fun to play with. 🙂
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I agree. We raised our kids in a completely different way from how I was raised. The girls had Nerf guns, our oldest son had a My Little Buddy doll, all of them have a big collection of stuffed animals and they all love My Little Pony (except the oldest boy..he thinks it’s lame). Like you said, they like what’s fun to play with. 🙂 Have a blessed day!
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