My First Dollhouse
When I was 9 years old, I got one of the most exciting Christmas gifts of my life: my very first dollhouse! My dad had made a Victorian style dollhouse (now refurbished and in my collection – see “The College Street House”) for my elder sister the year before and I was crazy about it. Seeing how much I loved her dollhouse, he designed and built this one for me:
Although the picture doesn’t do the original house justice (the picture is, after all, over 40 years old!), I am so glad that I have it.) As you can see, this was a more modern style of house, and I really loved it. My dad also made the furniture for it, and my elder sister (Maxine) handpainted beautiful motifs on much of it. My very favorite set of furniture in this house was the nursery furniture: it was just beautiful, with little painted ducks & flowers. My maternal grandmother (Mamaw Grace) contributed an antique baby doll, an antique lady doll, and a hand-pieced quilt that she made for me.
I lost this beautiful treasure to a house fire a number of years ago, and no matter how many dollhouses I add to my collection, I will never get over the loss of this one. To this day, I have never put a nursery in any of my subsequent houses, and I suppose it must be because of remembering the one in this house and knowing I could never create one as special. I suppose that I should include one some day . . . perhaps I will, but I don’t know what I could create that would please me in comparison. I doubt that I could talk my dad into making me the furniture or my sister into painting another set for me. Life marches on, and they both have other things that keep them busy.
I will never forget this beautiful house or the magic of first seeing it on that long ago Christmas morning. My parents have always given us wonderful Christmas and birthday gifts, but my favorites have all been things that they made for me.
Last modified on: April 28th 2012.