Karen Nazor-HillIt wasn’t the handheld electronic devices or the battery-operated toys that topped my grandchildren’s favorite gifts this Christmas. Instead, for the girls – Tilleigh, 9, and Evie, 5 – it was the old-fashioned baby dolls they treasured the most. For grandson William, 3, it was a shiny tricycle.
Sure, the girls liked the iPod and iPad Santa delivered and William was fond of the ferocious roaring dinosaur that eats Matchbox-sized cars, but the fancy devices are not what the children played with most on Christmas Day. It was the toys that Santa has been delivering for decades – dolls and bikes.
The girls toted their dolls around all day in the new stroller and baby carrier they found under the tree. They cuddled the dolls like they were real babies, just like I did more than five decades ago and my own daughters did in the 1970s and ’80s.
William stayed on his tricycle most of the day.
It was a joy to watch the kids use their imaginations with the old-fashioned toys rather than hearing cries of victory from winning a game on their favorite app.