Barbie and the Bible

Mattel introduced Barbie in 1959. I was nine years old and I wanted one. I still wanted one when I was ten.

In my family, you received gifts on your birthday and Christmas. So when I didn't get a Barbie for my November birthday, I was sure I'd get it for Christmas. That was pretty much the only childhood Christmas that I remember being disappointed. No Barbie doll.

But then came the big opportunity. The youth group leaders at church announced a contest. A competition with a prize. And the prize was "anything you wanted that didn't cost over $15". The leaders gave the example of a new bike. Back in 1960 a Barbie doll cost about $3. This was going to be so easy. All you had to do was show up, memorize Bible verses and be faster at looking up Bible verses than the other kids. This was going to be so easy. I don't remember whether the contest was going to last 6 weeks or 8 weeks. It didn't matter. At the end of the competition, I'd be getting the Barbie doll!

And at the end of the competition, which I won, all I had to do was tell the group leaders what I wanted. In my excitement, I told my mother that I won the contest and that I would be getting the Barbie doll.

And the following day, the excitement was over. My mother told me that I didn't want a Barbie doll. My dad had decided that I wanted a Schofield Reference Bible. What??? I didn't even know what that was and besides I had a Bible - a pretty white one with my name engraved on the front that I got from my Grandma. I didn't need another one. I had no Barbie dolls. None. Nada. I didn't want a reference Bible. I wanted a Barbie doll. There may have been 10 year olds who wanted reference Bibles. I was not one of them.

I know I cried. I was being coerced into saying I wanted something I didn't want and I wasn't going to get the thing that I did want and that I'd worked hard to get. I probably pitched a fit. And I knew my mom didn't really care if I asked for the Barbie doll, but my dad considered it an embarrassment that his child should ask for something as mundane as a doll. But my dad almost always communicated with me through my mother and in the end, Mom negotiated the deal. I would tell the youth group leaders that I wanted a Schofield Reference Bible and my mother would buy the Barbie and an over-the-top Barbie outfit (which cost way more than the actual doll.)

I still have both the Bible and the Barbie, although neither is in "mint" condition.