In fact before she showed it to me she begged me not to--as if I'd done it before, which I really hadn't. What I meant was working on her spelling in general.

Bratz are banned from this house, period; if someone actually gave us one, which is unlikely given my ferocious reputation with my in-laws, it'd get re-gifted. The girls get thrift-store Barbies every now and again from Grandma, who volunteers at one, but I think those days are officially over; they have so many Barbies they don't even miss them when the rattier ones get sent to Goodwill--or when a bag full get put in time-out because they were left for Mama to pick up.

I don't know that my gifts are so unique and imaginative. We just listen to what our daughters say. Josie has been begging to learn to sew, and she's been going to the driving range with her dad and Grandpa (my dad) off and on for a while. She got a gift certificate to Toys R Us a while back, saved it and her allowance up, and went on a spree a few months ago; it came down to a junior golf club set or a Cabbage Patch Doll and some smaller things. She went with the doll, and regretted it later. "Why did I do it?" she asked me. "I thought I wanted the doll, but she's just another doll, and I really wanted the golf clubs."

So we got her the golf clubs.

Lynn Siprelle, Editor