Throwback Christmas lists

In honor of Throwback Thursday, I thought I'd share a few Christmas lists from years past.

First, from circa 1989-90:

I am most interested in what dolly surprise I was seeking.

Ahh! I just had a flash-hint of a memory, googled Dolly Surprise, and confirmed that a Dolly Surprise was indeed waiting for me under the tree. Does anyone else remember them? You'd raise one of Dolly Surprise's hands and her hair would grow, and then I think raising her other hand would make her hair get shorter. Yes!!

This one must have been in my early middle school years and is quite a bit more substantial:

As you can see, I was a serious fan of the Sweet Valley franchise. (But perish the thought that I might be gifted "Shipboard Wedding, the newest one"! I don't remember the premise of Shipboard Wedding, but it sounds wonderfully dramatic.)

Also, I had forgotten about mini-backpacks until I saw one on my list from that year. And I love that I was pining for a Readers Digest subscription, too.

I saved my favorite for last. It's not even mine - it's my sister's - and I've shared this on Miles and Laurel before. But I do believe that it's the ultimate wish list.

Some early works

Because of my parents' in-progress move to a new house, there are lots and lots of boxes of papers through which Mom is sorting, and I am working my way through piles of my writing. As soon as I figured out how to write, I wrote a lot, and it's a hoot to look back at the scribbles.

My reading materials ranged from George Orwell, whose work I assessed very seriously in one review...

(My dad read Animal Farm and 1984 to me as bedtime stories, and this review is funny to me because I'm pretty sure the first time we read Animal Farm together, I did think it was about horses.)

...to self-published works:

Although A Book About Me retailed for a mere dollar, it's only six pages long, with 15 words total. Sales were not high.

I also kept a lot of journals. Here is one noteworthy P.S.:

It's worth noting that the drawing above is a pumpkin and this entry is dated Oct. 31, 1991, the day of Minnesota's wild Halloween Blizzard. In it, I outline my Halloween costume and plans but make no note of the snow, apparently choosing instead of highlight Jessica Gold's triumph in one of my favorite TV shows.

The following excerpts are from one edition of "The Rebecca Press." I don't remember doing this, but judging from the box of papers, I produced this frequently, mostly handwritten and usually filing reports on what my family members did that day. This one turns third-person autobiographical.

In the "Taste" chapter:

"Her favorite food is pepperoni pizza. Rebecca's favorite pop is A&W Creme Soda. She loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Her favorite pie is apple. Rebecca's favorite cake is vanilla. Her favorite kind of ice cream is vanilla. Her favorite fruit is strawberries. Rebecca's favorite vegetable is cauliflower with cheese sauce."

Shifting to "TV" and "Books":

"Her favorite TV show is 'Saved by the Bell.' Rebecca's favorite boy character is Mark Paul Gosselar who plays Zack Morris on Saved by the Bell. Rebecca's girl TV character is Carrie on Little House on the Prairie. Her favorite series of books is the Babysitter Club. Her favorite character is Kristy."

I also found several Christmas lists that I'll save for later. And just to be clear, "Saved by the Bell" is still one of my favorite shows.

So many questions for you, Reader. Who were your favorite TV characters growing up? Did you love "Carmen Sandiego" like I did? And do you think I get to count cauliflower-with-cheese-sauce as a vegetable?

Turkey tips

In honor of Throwback Thursday, here's another one from the archives - this time, to give you some guidance as you begin thinking about cooking a turkey this fall:

I've been thinking about trying to cook a turkey sometime this season, and I know my household is already excited about the 30 minutes it's going to spend in the oven, thanks to these golden instructions.

A fright

For Throwback Thursday, in honor of Halloween coming up later this month, I bring you an image from Halloween, circa 1988:

This picture makes me laugh until I cry.

The real mystery, of course, is who or what is off to the left, eliciting these reactions from my brother and me. My best guess is that it's my grandpa wearing one of the wonderful scary masks he liked to trot out at Halloween.

Whatever the source of the scare, I think we can all agree that my brother's tiger rendition is truly amazing, no?

The diaries

When I was sorting through boxes labeled "Rebecca - Nostalgia" over the weekend, I found nearly my entire collection of diaries. I kept lots of them as a kid, some years more actively than others, often addressing entries to myself for whatever reason ("Dear Becky" and "Your friend, Becky").

I got a kick out of this section of "Rebecca - Nostalgia." Some entries were very succinct. I have no idea what prompted this one, from December 1992, but I do agree that my mom is neat (in both ways).

That's "Dear Diary, Our family is old-fasioned. We have an excellent Christmas tree and Mom is neat. In both ways."

Later in my teen years I felt self-conscious about keeping a diary because of those inevitable times when you read back and cringe about something goofy you wrote. Apparently I decided to take matters into my own hands in 1991, when I was seven, and edit earlier entries. Don't do this!! Note the snarky "in 1991, I get up at 7:00" asterisk:

That's "I get up at 6:00 AM or sometimes I almots miss the bus that's when I get up at 15 to 8:00!!" I appreciate the double exclamation point and the alarm that it suggests about waking up at 15 to 8:00.

The diaries covered some regular "day in the life" moments:

I like the "California Raisins" and "Garfield's Christmas" shout-outs.

And finally, I remember my dad helping with this poem:

Then there are the volumes from a few years later, complete with fake locks and crammed full of writing, into which I haven't even delved yet. That's a project for another day.

Blast from the past

Oh, guys.

Today I spent some time at home sifting through two enormous boxes of My Stuff From Childhood and it probably took twice as long as it should have because I had to read through most of the diaries, college papers and letters. I think this is going to be a rich week of content at Miles and Laurel - at least to my family, anyway.

We'll kick off the coverage with a highlight from my days as an angler:

I am actually pretty grateful for this picture (ants-on-a-tablecloth shorts aside) because I can't remember ever catching a larger fish, so I think it actually does represent Rebecca's Biggest Fish.

Let the record show that I caught the biggest fish of my life on June 1, 1994!