The best Christmas presents of my childhood

Recently I was thinking about my childhood Christmases, the memories, the gifts, the places we went and the things we all did. In particular I look back at my favourite gifts as a child. Presents were so important back then, and I never cherished the idea that Christmas was about spending time with family and the atmosphere until I was about 12. But I've got to say, writing those Christmas lists were a heck of a lot of fun! I'd get Nan's Argos catalogue and circle each thing that I wanted (I'll admit it, I circled a lot more than Santa's sleigh could handle). Here are a list of my at the time most admired Christmas presents.

1. A Bratz dolls somehow always found its way under the tree, every year. My collection kept growing and growing but I was definitely not complaining. I looked after them and raised them as my own children; I dressed them in new outfits every day, plaited their hair, set up a movie for them and the gals on what was actually my extra tiny box TV, and one time I even washed one of the dolls hair and put her under the lamp for it to dry! Her head melted and I got a bit upset... but apart from that I loved my Bratz dolls. They were considered my best Christmas gifts for a long time. What's their saying? Passion for fashion? Something like that.

2. My FIRST BUILD A BEAR! Oh how adored her. Going into the shop and picking her out as well as her clothes felt so magical! It was a week before Christmas and I caught the train into Birmingham with my family to explore the Christmas market. I managed to persuade my mum to let me get a bear and when she did, oh the happiness!! I called her Toffee and I carried her home in her Christmas box along with her birth certificate and outfits. Ugh it makes me feel all gooey and nostalgic looking back. :'(

3. Getting my pink DS lite was such a beautiful moment. I remember waiting for it to charge and the finally being able to play on Nintendogs. I'm pretty sure I stayed in mums bed for ages playing with my little Shih tzu. OMG Nintendogs was such a good game. Ugh I miss being able to play that. But thanks to my super cool boyfriend my Nintendo dreams will be brought back to life, since he promised to buy me Animal Crossing New Leaf and he's giving me his 3DS because he doesn't use it anymore. I do love the kid. 

4. My Polly Pocket cruise ship was a bit of an upgrade from my first Polly Pocket that I bought at a car boot sale, you know, the original Polly Pocket. I remember circling it in the Argos catalogue so many times that I almost burnt trough the page. My little dolls went on the best holidays ever, shilling by the pool, climbing up a rock climbing wall, it was all just fabulous and I was so grateful that Santa made my wishes come true.

5. Finally, my pixel chix was a Christmas gift which I obsessed over. It's like a limited, extremely pixellated sims for kids. I collected a load of them and this was the first one I got that started the craze. I loved it so much, and I found it so addictive! My little sister has them all now but she doesn't really understand how it works. One day.

What kind of presents did you get as a child?

Lauren x