What Parents Will Do to Get That Christmas Toy

If you continue to dance on this planet long enough, you will get to see many trendy toys come and go. There will ALWAYS be a trendy toy, so take that Elmo and Zhu Zhu. Like many others, you will become the fond stuff of adult memories. Until then, parents will do what they can - short of wrestling with another parent in the aisles - to get that trendy toy for their child. As for the wrestling, well, I think some have resorted to that. Oh well.

Once upon a time, the Cabbage Patch Kid was THE toy. It was hard to find one, and when you waited to begin the hunt (like I did), trying to find one was even harder. Now, combine that with trying to find one for my chubby cheeked little chocolate angel was even harder. Did I mention that I have a son? There, you have it: I was looking for an African-American Cabbage Patch boy doll.

At the time, I worked for Sears, so I could get an employee discount on my purchases. I ordered my Cabbage Patch - backordered until Christmas. JC Penney - no luck. Spiegel? - backordered. Everywhere I tried - no little dude for my little dude. So, I gave up on that and moved on to other things on his list.

As luck would have it, I arrived home one day, and there was a box on the carport from Spiegel. My son was out with his grandmother, and I was so excited. Could it be? I tore open the outer box and opened it to find Jamie, my own little chocolate Cabbage Patch ..........girl. Oy, what to do, what to do?

I did what I had to do. I did a sex change on a Cabbage Patch doll. When my son went to bed that night, I got Jamie the girl out and took her ponytails down. Findng some thick thread, I stitched that doll's hair to her skull in rows and gave that girl an afro. The clothing, overalls, were unisex, so I didn't need to change that. I bought the new "Jamie" a basketball set of clothing and other sports-related cabbage patch stuff and made sure that the birth certificate didn't say anything about girl (it didn't).

On Christmas morning, EARLY Christmas morning, my son tore open the box that I had so carefully decorated and jumped on my bed with his new buddy Jamie. He was happy. He and his buddy had fun - and my sewing job held. I may have the only Cabbage Patch on the planet that changed genders, but you know what, my son didn't know. My mother, however, was very amused.

Boy, what we won't do to bring a smile to our children's faces.