Special toys for special children

Okay, story time.  My mother's best friend (Mrs. M) has two daughters that are like older sisters to my sis and me.  The younger of these two daughters (Mrs. W) is happily married, and the couple has adopted three special-needs children, two girls and a boy.  Friend and her husband are white, and the children are black.  I mention race because sometimes Mrs. M and Mrs. W have trouble finding toys and clothes that represent the children properly.  Back last fall, for example, Mrs. M mentioned that the girls were over the moon for Simone Biles because she looked like them, but neither she nor Mrs. W could find a doll for the girls that matched either them or Simone.  So I found these on Etsy.

A ballerina for the older girl, and a bespectacled doll for the younger one, because she wears glasses.  The ballerina has jointed arms and a tulle skirt, so I hope I'm not making a huge mistake by giving her to this little girl.  Don't worry, I got something nice for the boy too.  He likes cars and trucks so Mama helped me find a nice Tonka dump truck.  It's made of metal, and it's a big sucker!  I hope the girls won't mind the fact that his gift is bigger than theirs; sometimes kids have an issue with stuff like that.  All three items cost roughly the same, so if my friend has any trouble with jealousy I can at least tell her that.  Since the truck is made of metal it should stand up to any type of abuse the kids can dish out, kinda like the garbage truck that I had when I was little (I positively LOVED garbage trucks back then). 

Now...as I noted above Mrs. M is my mom's best friend and these children are her grandbabies.  On December 3rd Mr. M, Mrs. M's husband, died.  He'd been in a slow decline for some time and had the beginnings of dementia so he's probably better off, but of course his family still misses him.  A death in the family sucks anytime, but right before the holidays it REALLY sucks.  I had planned to give these children their toys whenever I could since I very rarely see them, but when Mr. M passed away I got a chance to see Mrs. W, and I gave her the gifts early.  I didn't see Mrs. M until the seventeenth, and she informed me that the children were thrilled with their gifts.  They ALL play with the dump truck, to my delight, and the girls pal around with their dolls all day.  It may be something little, giving toys to three bereaved children for Christmas, but knowing that it cheered them up brightened my day too.  The M family has done a lot for my family, so it pleased me to know I gave them a little back.

Now to find out what my own presents are!  All I really want is a nice flashlight since my old one went to Heaven, LOL.  The best present would be getting to see my sister and brother-in-law, but alas, that's not to be...again.  First Uncle will be here in a couple'a days though, so that's something!

Happy Christmas to all,
RagingMoon1987