I have always enjoyed Christmas, but I will never forget the Christmas of 1947. I had received lots of wonderful gifts over the years, but none like Lovella. We were poor and times were hard, but Santa always brought us a small toy and plenty of candy, nuts and oranges. A few days before Christmas, my mother went to town to shop for Santa. After my younger sister, Joann, was asleep that night, my mother showed me and my older sister, Virginia, the doll she had bought for Joann. We had never gotten a big doll, and it was as big as a real baby!

Oh had we wanted one too, but my mother said we were too old for dolls. We begged, but she didn’t give us any hope. She said she had already bought our gifts.

Christmas morning came and we were up early to see what he had left us. What a surprise we had, with Lovella sitting under the tree waiting for me! My mom had my dad go back to town and buy two more dolls for myself and Virginia.

I still have Lovella, but my two sisters and their dolls are gone now.

Louise McDonald, Murphy, a member of Blue Ridge Mountain EMC