For my birthday, my family surprised me with this sweet stacking Russian doll. As an outsider looking in, this seems to be just a sweet gift. But there is more to this little doll than meets the eye. Let me tell you tell a little story…
When I was four years old, my mother’s best friend brought her back a Matryoshka Nesting Doll as a gift when she returned home from her travels to Russia. My mother loved that doll. I was fascinated by it. We grew up pretty simply in the country when I was small. And I think that made my childhood special. It left more room for the imagination. I could spend hours on the floor talking to a beetle. It was with great joy that my mother let me stack and unstack her new gift.
The best part about the doll was that it unstacked to the tiniest little doll. It was about the size of a grain of rice. I was obsessed with that thing. I loved (and still do to this day) anything miniature. One day, when I was playing with the doll, the worst thing happened. My mother, unaware that the tiniest doll was sleeping on the carpet on the floor in her bedroom (I know! How could she not realize that?), came in and vacuumed the floor. The small doll was vacuumed up. I was devastated. My mother was devastated. Sorry Mom!
And I never touched that Matryoshka Doll again.
Whenever I spot one of these stacking dolls, I always ask if it breaks down into a tiny doll. No one ever knows what I am talking about. Although, I am sure they are curious as to why I sadly proclaim, “it’s not small enough,” and walk away remorsefully.
Well, my family found this Matryoshka Doll at The San Diego Fair. It has the tiniest doll! My husband and daughter sneakily found it while I was waiting with my son while he got his sculpture made.
I love everything about this gift. The bright colors. The memories it invokes. The secrets it keeps inside. And the fact that my daughter found it for her mother when the opposite was true in our family’s past. Again, sorry Mom!
It’s The Little Things: The Littlest Doll. So happy to hold one again!
Do you own a Matryoshka Doll? Does it hold more than just miniatures of its own self inside? Does it hold memories, too?
When Victor and I were first dating, he went on a trip to Russia. I still treasure the card he sent me, but he also came home with a Russian doll that he insisted on giving me. I felt slightly uncomfortable taking it because I could tell how much he loved it, but then less than a year later, we were living together and so he got the doll back, so to speak! And I kept thinking, he knew! He knew that was gonna happen!
Anyway, what an adorable and thoughtful gift! 🙂
You had me laughing so hard at this. I think it is so cute that he loved it so much and I do not doubt for one moment that he knew he that he was getting that doll back. I love it!
Have many sweet moments today!
Jenni
What a special, special gift!!!
Thank you Kristen! : )
Have a happy Monday!
Jenni
What a great gift. I was fascinated with these dolls when I was younger. To be honest, I still am. Often there would be a peanut inside the smallest doll (obviously not very small).
Thank you Liana. I had not heard of the peanut thing before. That is so interesting. The one my husband got me has the smallest doll but she has no features. My mom’s was tiny with small little details. It was quite a doll!
Have a delightful week!
Jenni
I asked my husband if he had one of these dolls and he did. His had a peanut inside too, except his was a carved wooden peanut (I guess a peanut doll). The ones I had had real peanuts inside…
That is so cool! A peanut doll?! That would be amazing. I wonder how it was determined which dolls got tiny dolls, real peanuts, and peanut carvings. It must be a regional thing. Very interesting. I love how you are always teaching me something new!
I hope you are having sweet dreams!
Jenni
What a wonderful gift – I love the story behind it. I love miniatures too!!! When I was young, I actually had a miniature shelf in my room. It was a framed wood type thing that had tons of different sized compartments. Do you remember when gift shops would sell the little ceramic animals that were glued to a card? They were on little turn type displays? Those were most of my collection, but I had a ton of other stuff too. It is all packed away in my basement at the moment, but a few years ago I was using the shelf (laid down) as a bead organizer. Now, I want to dig it out again because Richard is into miniatures too! These little rubber ones you can get at toy/gift shops now. He mostly likes aquatic life ones. So fun!
Thank you Heather! Oh my gosh! I loved those things. And I have purchased my kids those rubber toys. They are so cool! In fact, I love miniatures so much that when my daughter was two, we gave her a full on real dollhouse. It was my very favorite thing. Still is. And, um, she can never take it with her. So I guess when my daughter was two, I bought myself a dollhouse. ; )
Have a fantastic Monday!
Jenni
Ohhhhh. The one that I played with which was my Nana’s did not break down as small. How cool!
I think everyone got to play with one when they were little. That is so cool! What happened to that doll? I hope it is still loved.
Have a marvelous Monday!
Jenni
What a great story and a thoughtful gift.
bisous
Suzanne
Thank you Suzanne! It was a sweet gift. They were bursting with excitement to give it to me.
Have sweet dreams!
Jenni
I love Matryoshka Dolls too! I don’t have one, but always wanted one. There was a Russian import shop in Ann Arbor that used to have their windows lined with dolls. I always loved just staring into the windows and seeing all the different designs on the dolls 🙂 Now I definitely want one. What a great birthday surprise!!
That shop sounds so cool! I would have been drooling outside the window. I wonder what happened to all of those dolls in that shop? I hope they got some lovin’. And I hope you get your own doll soon! I kind of want to take mine apart and restack it right now! And I just might go do that!
Have a lovely week!
Jenni
So sweet! I was fascinated by those too when I was a kid. My best friend had one. I don’t think it got that small though.
What a wonderful gift, Jenni! I am from Russia although now live in the US. When I was little I used to have Matryoshka similar to this one, but it did not have such a tiny one inside like yours.This is Semionov style Matryoshka traditionally hand painted with red, blue, and yellow colors in Semionov, small town near Nizhny Novgorod.
Thank you for that information Tatiana! That is so cool! And neat to learn you are from Russian. Apparently, my great grandfather who was Polish was from Russia and stowed away to America on a ship. So, I have always had a fondness in my heart for that country. You made my day!
Have a beautiful week!
Jenni
What a wonderful and thoughtful gift! I always loved those stacking dolls. My husband went to Lithuania as a teenager and brought one back. It does not have the tiniest doll, but we still have it and he had it on a shelf for the longest time!
I am so glad you got your tiny doll back!
That is so neat that you have one, too! And that it has such a personal story behind it. Where does the doll reside now? I hope one day Macy will get to play with it! That would be sweet.
Have a happy Monday!
Jenni
My daughter has the cutest book called, “The Littlest Matryoshka,” by Corinne Demas Bliss. You would love it. I know your children are too old for it, but it’s still a nice book to have in your collection. This is one book I will be keeping. It tells the story of the littlest doll named Nina getting lost and how she finds her sisters again. We even named one of our cats Nina. I just checked and they do have some on Amazon.
Happy shopping,
Stacey
I will have to check out that book. And I love that you named one of your kitties after it. That is darling. It sounds like what happened with my mother’s littlest doll, only with a happy ending.
Have a great Thursday!
Jenni