Just last Christmas I gave my beloved Raggedy Ann doll - who wears child size 4 clothes to give you an idea of her size - to my littlest neice (Lady's Human's daughter Marylin-Jean) and she was immediately hugged and dragged everywhere, which was fun. With her went the child-size racking chair that my mother had as a toddler - she learned to walk pushing that chair around her room.

So not only do we hang onto things, we pass some along! I still have the little cast iron colt my Grandma brought for me from when she went to Kentucky, I have the little matchbox-size dump truck LH got me for Christmas when I was 16, as if I was gonna drive, he figured I'd better be in a BIG truck ...

But oldest of all is my bear. He is MY bear, made for me by my Aunt Dottie when I was born, and he may be a little "loved" but he is still fuzzy, and his courduroy tummy may be a little faded, and he's - well, UNIQUE looking, but he is MY bear, and sits on the couch in the living room with the newer stuffies. I looked at him with his goofy smile one day and said to Paul - "you think he started my affection for golden-brown fuzzy creatures, and that's why I picked Miss Hoppy?" He said "Probably!"