The Last Barbie Ornament

  I went into the Hallmark store last week. The new Christmas ornaments come out in July and it was time to buy my usual Barbie ornament. There is a series of them and I've been collecting them longer than I can remember. I scanned the racks of bears, planes, trains, new house and new baby ornaments looking for the right one. I finally found it. Barbie is wearing a lovely red pencil skirt with a bolero jacket and a pillbox hat. Very nice.
  There was a sign by the rack that said this was the last in the series. I looked at the sign with mixed feelings. I was sad,relieved and annoyed all at once. I was sad to see the series come to an end. I looked forward to seeing what the new ornament would look like each year. I was annoyed that they had stopped at 19. Couldn't they have at least stopped at 20? I don't like uneven numbers. I felt more relief than anything else though. I have a strict rule about doing any Christmas type shopping or decorating before Thanksgiving. If I waited until after Thanksgiving the ornament I wanted would be sold out. Now I wouldn't have to break that rule. I wouldn't have to worry if the next ornament in the series would sell out leaving a hole in my collection. I wouldn't have to worry about where I'm going to store all these ornaments.
   I hadn't intended to start collecting these ornaments. I'm actually a bit embarrassed about it. I consider myself to be something of a feminist and collecting Barbie items is sort of hypocritical. The first ornament was Barbie in a white and black striped swimsuit. I nearly didn't get it. People were buying scores of the ornaments probably to resell on EBay or something. A friend of my parents saved the last one in town for me. I remember going to the store to buy it. I put up my first Christmas tree that year and the ornament was on it.
  She was soon joined by others. I liked the outfits and I thought it was fun. There was Barbie in a suit, Barbie in a pink evening gown, Barbie in a black dress with a microphone, Malibu Barbie and Barbie in a horrible yellow and red outfit. (that one goes on the back of the tree) One year there was even a Barbie bride. I thought it funny that a woman determined never to marry would own a wedding Barbie.
  When I moved, I always made sure I knew where the closest Hallmark store was so I would know where to get the next ornament. Every time I moved I would make sure that the ornaments were in a sturdy box so they would not be broken.
   I put them out every year. One year I only had a small half tree Christmas wall hanging. I hung all the Barbie ornaments on that half tree.  It looked ridiculous. I lined them up on the mantle of a house I lived in. One of the ornaments had a chew mark where Ary, the cat, had tried to take a bite. My stepdaughters tease me and call my Christmas tree "the Barbie tree". I have a lot of good memories of those ornaments.
   I picked a box from the full rack of ornaments. This was the last one in the series. I would not have to do this again. Next to the series ornament was another ornament of Barbie in a tweed suit carrying an black handbag. I picked it up as well. It wasn't in the series, but then I would have 20 ornaments. I don't like uneven numbers.