#American Girl doll Evette | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

shakespearefreak · 1 month ago

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🎄 An American Girl Christmas (2024) 🎄

As I mentioned, my December was insanely busy, so I’m only getting around to posting my dolls’ Christmas celebration now! In fact, they didn’t even have “Christmas morning” until January 5th… Makena’s present was delayed twice—the first one I ordered never arrived, and the replacement was held up in the mail—and I didn’t want everyone else to open their gifts before she got hers. But of course, within the dolls’ timeline, this all happened on Christmas itself.

As soon as the girls approached the main room, they heard mingled soft barks and bleating sounds, both of which were very familiar indeed to two of their assembled company. “Sombrita?” Josefina asked wonderingly, at the exact same moment as Corrine cried out, “Flurry!” They burst into the room ahead of everyone else to see their beloved pets eying each other with slightly wary curiosity.

Sombrita was bold enough to cautiously approach Flurry and try to make friends, but Flurry didn’t seem quite sure what to make of the goat… she’d sniff her, then give a soft, questioning bark, retreat a step or two, then sniff again. But when the animals saw their humans, they forgot about each other (at least for the moment) and ran into the girls’ arms.

Hearing the new arrivals, Jip and Tatlo came to investigate what all the fuss was about.

Once the pets had settled down a bit, it was time for stockings! (Since neither Evette or Kaya had a stocking, as they don’t celebrate Christmas, they decided to look after the animals in another room and make sure they didn’t get into mischief while the rest of the girls opened theirs.)

(A closer look at the stockings and their contents. Since I had three new dolls this year, the stockings for everyone were somewhat light… next year I plan to have more fruit and candy.

Side note: I made the stockings for Addy, Corrine, and Maritza! It was surprisingly difficult—especially because the sewing machine stopped working about ⅔ of the way through the last stocking and I couldn’t figure out the problem, so I had to do the rest by hand—but I’m pretty proud of the final result.)

And then it was time for the main attraction! The girls gasped in delight at the mountain of presents piled around the shining tree.

“How about Virginia goes first, as she’s the eldest?” Samantha proposed. Everyone else agreed, so Virginia stepped forward and found a smallish rectangular package wrapped in red and gold paper with her name on it.

Upon tearing open the wrapping, Virginia gave a joyful little squeal. “Jane Eyre! This is my very favorite book! Thank you, Mar—I mean,” she amended, remembering the younger girls present, “thank you, Father Christmas!”

Nellie was originally going to go next, but when she found her gift—wrapped in gold with a pale pink bow, and almost the exact same size and shape as Virginia’s—she changed her mind. “I think one of the new girls should be next, actually… perhaps Addy?” And then she lowered her voice and whispered to Marley, “I think it’s another book; I’ll wait a little to open it, so we don’t have two books in a row.”

Addy’s present was wrapped in bright green paper that just matched her dress, printed with nutcrackers, and was slightly lumpy and giving. “I think it’s some kind of fabric!” she said happily, already thinking about what she could make with it.

When she opened the package, she was surprised to find it wasn’t just fabric, but a fully-finished dress! “This fabric is so pretty!” she gasped, running her hand along the bright geometric shapes in orange, red, black, and green.

“Let me see that,” Makena said, and then: “Oh, it’s a Kwanzaa dress!”

“What’s that?” Addy asked. Makena looked at her in confusion for a moment before remembering that Kwanzaa is a relatively new holiday that only began in the 1960s… of course Addy wouldn’t know about it.

“It’s this wonderful holiday for Black people around the world to celebrate our heritage and reconnect with our African roots,” Makena explained.

“It’s right after Christmas, and it’s really cool” Evette added. “I’m so excited you get to celebrate this year!”

Corrine was surprised to find the shiny blue box with her name on it. “I thought Flurry was my present,” she wondered aloud. “Why would Santa bring me two?”

Marley just shrugged and smiled. “Open it and let’s find out!”

“Oh!” Corrine said when she saw what was inside. “I get it! This isn’t my present… it’s for Flurry!” Flurry, hearing her name, came trotting in and immediately leapt up, begging for the ball.

“Nellie, why don’t you go now?” Marley suggested. When the wrapping paper fell away, Nellie almost jumped for joy. “A Little Princess! Just like the movie we watched on my birthday! I’m so excited to read it!”

“The book is a little different,” Marley cautioned. “In some ways, it’s a lot sadder.”

“That’s all right,” Nellie said. “Thank you for letting me know, but I think I’ll love it anyway.”

“I think Samantha should go next,” Marley said. “I’m not sure, but I think Santa mentioned something about your presents being related.”

Samantha picked up the poinsettia-wrapped package with the bright red bow; as she did, she felt the soft crinkling of delicate paper under the outer wrapping, and beneath that, something with a familiar shape… “Oh, my!” she breathed in an awed voice. “I think it’s a doll!”

It turned out not to be just any doll, but her own dear Clara! Samantha hugged the doll’s porcelain form gently and stroked the soft hair, exactly the same shade of brown as her own. “I missed you,” she whispered to Clara.

When it was Makena’s turn, she selected a silver box with a deep purple bow. “The wrapping is so pretty, I almost hate to open it!” she joked.

“Ice skates!” she said excitedly, examining the glittering purple skates with the shiny silver blades. “I can’t wait to try them out!”

“We’ll check out a frozen pond soon,” Marley promised.

“Whoa!” Maritza marveled, looking at the huge package with the snowman print wrapping. “This is almost as tall as me!”

“A snowboard! And a helmet and goggles! Nice!” Maritza grinned and pumped her fist. “I hope we get more snow soon!” (There had been over a foot of snow on the ground, but it had all melted just a few days before.)

Even though Evette celebrates Yule rather than Christmas, there was a present under the tree for her, too. Wrapped in pine-green gift paper, it was slightly oddly shaped; it was mostly rectangular, but had a strange ridge on one side.

“Oh, cool!” Evette said when she revealed the box of Tarot cards (the ridge beneath the wrapping had been created by the box’s clasp). She looked around at her friends. “I’ll have to give everyone a reading sometime!”

There was one present left; there was no name on it, but it was wrapped in animal hide and tied with a leather strap. “I think that one’s for you,” Marley told Kaya.

“But… I don’t know much about this holiday,” Kaya said, her forehead creased in confusion. “Why would this Saint Claus leave anything for me?” (She was a little confused by all the names this spirit seemed to go by—Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, Father Christmas—and accidentally combined two of them.)

“Well, I don’t celebrate Christmas either, but I still got a present,” Evette commented.

Kaya looked down at the wrapped present thoughtfully. “It would be ungrateful to refuse a gift, especially from a spirit. I should open it.”

The hide wrapping fell away, revealing a bundle of leather, feathers, and fur that turned out to be a winter hood, boots, and gloves, and a robe and neck wrap made of soft brown fur.

Kaya tried everything on; it was wonderfully warm, being cocooned in the thick fur.

“It is kind of weird, isn’t it?” Corrine mused aloud. “That Santa gave Kaya and Evette presents?” (Being the youngest of the group, Corrine was still mostly convinced Santa was real).

Marley jumped in before Corrine could question too much. “I think… Christmas is ultimately about joy, and sharing it, and if anyone understands that, it’s Santa Claus. Evette and Kaya are part of our family, and it wouldn’t be fair to leave them out. I bet it wouldn’t even occur to Santa not to give them anything.”

“But… then why don’t they have stockings?” Corrine asked. “We have stockings.”

To Marley’s relief, Evette answered. “I don’t WANT a stocking; Christmas is fun, but it isn’t MY holiday, and I associate stockings with Christmas. I won’t turn down a present, though!” She laughed.

Marley nodded. “And Kaya doesn’t know enough about the whole thing yet to decide if she wants a stocking or not, right?”

“’Eehé (yes),” Kaya agreed. “But I don’t think I will. What Evette said about it not being her holiday… that makes sense to me.” Then she stroked the soft fur of her robe. “This is beautiful, though, and I am very grateful for it. Qe’ciyéw’yew’ (thank you)” she said softly to the air, hoping she was heard by the generous spirit.

✨🎄 Happy Dollidays! 🎄✨

BONUS:

A close-up of the table, mostly to show off the real miniature gingerbread house! I found it in my own stocking on (actual) Christmas morning. I originally hoped I could keep it for future years, but I checked the expiration date and after some Googling, realized I couldn’t preserve it. 😕 It was very tasty, though! 😋

Also, a closer look at the painting on the fireplace, which I modified myself! I thought the original looked too summery (for reference, you can see the original painting here).

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