Books, Dolls, and Care Bears

This week's Family Search question is: What kinds of things did you collect and display in your childhood bedroom?

Growing up I had a lot of toys. Between my brother and I we had stuffed animals, Legos, Barbies, Bionicles, Little People, and an assortment of other things. Whenever McDonald's had new toys for their Happy Meals, my mom would call around on the days we planned on going to find out which location had a toy we didn't have yet. But my very favorite items were my books, my porcelain dolls, and my Care Bears.

Books

As talked about in other posts, I love to read! While I have checked out books from the library in the past, I really prefer to own them. So if there is a book I want to read, I will generally buy so that I can read it. The headboard of my bed at my parents' house is a book shelf, and I have two more book shelves in my childhood bedroom. Last time I counted my books - which was in 2011 or 2012 - I had over 300 books between my parents house and my apartment! When I was little I was so proud of my book collection (and I still am) that I created my own catalog as if my room was a library, and I dreamed of being a librarian. (In fact, I still think about that sometimes even though I have a teaching degree.)

Dolls

My very first porcelain doll was a gift from my grandma. It is a traditional size, wears a pink dress, and has brown curly hair. Over the years I got  a couple others as gifts as well. In my early teens, our local dollar store had this collection of miniature porcelain dolls. That's what I gave my friends for Christmas that year (one doll each), and my mom slowly bought me the entire collection as well! My great Grandma Nola Peterson had a china hutch full of porcelain dolls. When we would visit, I always asked to hold my favorite: a Native American child sitting cross legged. About a year before she died, my grandma gave me that doll so that no one else would get it after she died. She didn't want any mistakes happening in getting me that doll. It's my most precious of my dolls. Even though it's not porcelain, I also consider my American Girl Kaya doll apart of this collection. When I was 12 we drove from our home in Utah to New York and back. One of our stops was in Chicago. We went to the American Girl store and I used my hard earned babysitting money to buy Kaya and her horse.

Care Bears

My mom, my grandma, and my great-grandma all love Care Bears; and that love was instilled in me as well! My mom has her own collection that I believe my great Grandma made. She also had this box of little plastic Care Bears that my brother and I played with growing up. When I was in my preteens, my mom and my grandma gave me these giant Care Bears for Christmas! Build-a-Bear has their version of Care Bears, and we have started collecting those ones for Luna.

All of these items are still very important to me. And when we get a house and have room for them, I plan on moving most of them in with me. I also plan on sharing them with my kids if these things peak their interest like they did mine.