Strawberry Shortcake

As a little girl, my favorite doll toys were Strawberry Shortcake. I can’t remember when I got my first doll. It was before I was five because I do remember getting clothes for Strawberry Shortcake and Lime Chiffon for my 5^thbirthday. I did not have an extensive collection. By the time I really wanted more dolls, only a few dolls were left to purchase in the store. As far as collections went, my My Little Ponies collection was more than five times the amount of my Strawberry Shortcake one.

Several years ago, my mom came across a couple of Strawberry Shortcake dolls I didn’t have and bought them for me. A toy company also reissued a few of the dolls as throwbacks to the 1980s and I got a couple of those for Christmas. Because I was never around to put them up in the attic with my other dolls, I stashed them in a dresser drawer. Where Emry discovered them about a year and a half ago. I let her play with them, promising I would get up in Grandma’s attic when the weather was decent enough and find my other dolls. This past spring, I did that.

While it’s a good thing I wrote down the names of my My Little Ponies and stashed the list in their box (although I need to go back and mark the list with which pony is which because some of them have been forgotten), I have not forgotten any of my Strawberry Shortcake dolls. I have four baby versions: Strawberry Shortcake, Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Drop and Orange Blossom. Then I have Strawberry Shortcake with her cat Custard, Lime Chiffon with her parrot Soufflé, little twins Lem and Ada with their dog Sugarwoofer, and little Butter Cookie with her bear Jellybear. The one my mom picked up in the past few years is little Cherry Cuddler, but I sadly lack her goose. The throwback one I have is Huckleberry Pie. He has a dog whose name I could not remember, so I looked it up on Pinterest (it’s Pupcake). And since I looked it up on Pinterest, when I open the app my feed now includes Strawberry Shortcake characters. I can’t help it. I’ve been pinning them to a board called “Being a Little Girl Again”. And wishing that I owned them all.

Yes, yes. In a lot of ways, Strawberry Shortcake and all her little friends are a little silly. Silly names, funny colors, smells that bring back memories of hours of happy playtime. But things we enjoy as children (or even as adults) are not always very logical. I certainly can’t explain my love for Strawberry Shortcake dolls, but they do make me happy when I see them on Pinterest. And maybe someday I can add a few more to my collection!