Welcome to Strawberryland!

Yesterday as I was enjoying my lemon-coconut-chiffon wax melting in my scentsy burner, my brain turned to my favorite early childhood toy Strawberry Shortcake!  I was thinking of Lemon Meringue and Lime Chiffon and soon I went down the rabbit hole of internet reminiscing to find all of my beloved old friends.

I had 16 of the original dolls, starting of course with Strawberry Shortcake that was first produced in 1979.  I didn't have her cat, Custard, as they weren't sold together until 1981.

Five dolls were created in 1979, including Apple Dumplin' and Tea Time Turtle.

Blueberry Muffin with Cheesecake Mouse (I didn't have her pet either).

Huckleberry Pie with Pupcake Puppy.

And the villain, the Purple Pieman with Captain Cackle the Berry Bird.

In 1980, the five friends were reproduced with curved hands and four new friends joined the group.

Lemon Meringue with Frappe Frog (another pet I didn't have).

Raspberry Tart with Rhubarb Monkey (again, another pet I didn't have).

Orange Blossom and Marmalade Butterfly.

Apricot and Hopsalot Bunny.

(These were my all-time favorites!)

In 1981, the previous nine friends were re-released all with pets now, and five more friends and villains came along.  

Angel Cake and Souffle.

Lime Chiffon and Parfait Parrot.

Butter Cookie and Jelly Bear.

Cherry Cuddler and Gooseberry Goose.

And Purple Pieman's new sidekick, Sour Grapes with Dreggs her snake.

In 1982, an International line was launched with six new characters.  Lem 'n Ada are boy and girl twins with their dog Sugar Woofer.  They were from Picadilly Square.

These were my first set of boy and girl twins!

These were also my last Strawberry Shortcake dolls.

I have to include the rest of the dolls, so I can pretend I had them all, ha ha!

Crepes Suzette and Eclair her poodle from Paris.

Mint Tulip and Marsh Mallard from Hollandaise.

Cafe Ole and Burrito Burro from Mexicoco.

Almond Tea with Marza Panda from China Cup.

In 1983, ten Party Pleaser dolls came out.  Eight were existing characters in new dresses and birthday hats on their pets.  Two new characters also came along for the fun.

Peach Blush and Mellonie Belle Lamb.

Plum Puddin' had been a character in print since the beginning, but she and her owl, Elderberry, were finally made into dolls.

The original Plum Puddin' character in print was a boy, so here is a custom doll of him with a Plum berrykin.

So in my world, these two exist as twins, Plum and Puddin'!

You can even buy them (somewhere).

In 1984, six large baby dolls were introduced.  Five had familiar faces, but one friend was new, Baby-Needs-A-Name with Figboot her pet dinosaur.  These were large dolls, but a Strawberry Shortcake fan created this custom doll to match the rest of this collection.

1985 was the last year Kenner made the Strawberry Shortcake dolls.  They introduced six Berrykins with friends.  You guessed it, five of the friends were already around, but Banana Twirl with her Banana Berrykin were new.

The Berrykins were led by the Berry Princess, who was more like a Barbie doll than a Strawberry Shortcake doll, but berry beautiful none-the-less.

So I continued my dive into the old world of Strawberry Shortcake this weekend with watching all 6 of the television specials that aired from 1980-1985.  The list of the shows are:  The World of Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City, Strawberry Shortcake:  Pets on Parade, Strawberry Shortcake:  Housewarming Surprise, Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name, and Strawberry Shortcake meets the Berrykins.

I just want to live in Strawberryland with Mr. Sun shining down on me!

My list of dolls wouldn't be complete if I didn't include T.N. Honey with Hun E.B, even though she was never made into a doll in the 80s.  This doll is a custom make by a fan, but she was produced when the "vintage" dolls were remade by Altaya.

Since I added custom dolls, it's only fitting to add this one of Raisin Cane with her pet worm, Durt.  She was only in print before.  She was another villain, Sour Grapes' niece.

This girl with a daisy by Barbi Sargent from 1973 was the inspiration for Strawberry Shortcake.

Strawberry Shortcake and a total of 32 characters were created by Muriel Fahrion in 1977.  Fran Kariotakis was the third artist chosen as the main illustrator of the series.  The franchise has grown into a huge World of Strawberry Shortcake and Strawberry has had five facelifts over the decades.

The original Strawberry girl from my childhood will always be my favorite!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go eat some strawberry shortcake now, ha ha!

Marsha's Pick

This was our title for March.  Marsha chose it because she loves words and found it fascinating how this society could function with losing letters and thus words from their communication.  I enjoyed it, but found it terrifying how a handful of people could abuse, steal from, and even kill others over something so trivial.  It actually reminded me a lot of the Chinese Cultural Revolution- scary.  Our governments should never have this sort of power over their people.  Hello, North Korea- I'm talking to you!  And unfortunately, so many other corrupt dictatorships.

My Picks

It was my turn to choose the title for Book Club.  I did something different this time.  I actually presented four books- Heaven Is Here, Wonder, A True Princess, and The Blood Detective.  I then had the ladies vote on which to read this month.  Heaven Is Here won the vote and it is a truly inspiring story.  NieNie, I want to be just like you when I grow up!

I checked this one out from the library and absolutely loved it!  So much so, that I bought it and its sequel for my daughter.

This was one of my gifts from our December book exchange.  It is actually two stories in one- Marriage Wanted and Laughter In The Rain.  Cute love stories.

My last gift from our book exchange was a four-in-one from Reader's Digest.  I enjoyed all four stories.  Letter from Home is the solving of a murder mystery from an elderly woman's girlhood.

PS, I Love You was totally different from the movie, but just as heart-wrenching.

The Promise Of A Lie was another murder mystery with lots of fun twists.

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time was what I expected in the fact that it was a story wonderfully told by an autistic narrator, but the plot was nothing what I expected.  I still want more resolution for this story, nevertheless I enjoyed it.

Rebecca's Pick

Rebecca chose this for January's title.  How far would you go to survive?

After reading all of the Little House series, I had to read this one too.

My library doesn't have this title, so I requested the DVDs of the TV show instead.

This was one of the books I received from our Christmas book exchange.  It's a Nicholas Sparks love story that's been made into a movie, what can I say.  I still find it ironic that the main characters commit fornication Saturday night, then go to church together Sunday morning, and this is normal.

Rhonda's Pick

Rhonda chose this for us to read in December.  A magical Christmas tale!

I read a slew of more Christmas stories. 

After my recent reads of Cornelia's books, this one redeemed itself.  I see that it's a movie now too and would like to see it.

My friend, Marsha gave me this and it's another great Christmas redemption story.

 

I read A Christmas Carol years ago (2003 I think), and watch the movie every year.

 

I read The Cricket on the Hearth back in 2011.  I have Charles Dickens' 5 Christmas stories in one volume, so this year I was determined to read the remaining 3.

A father's love for his daughter.

 

A girl's love for her sister.

This was my favorite of the 3.  Do we follow our demons or angels, do we spread evil or love?  

This is not a Christmas title, but I  had been on the waiting list at the library for it for a long time.  Once it was in, I rushed over to get it.  It's a great story of kindness though, and kindness and Christmas go hand in hand.