I'm usually a traditionalist for the holidays--when I think holiday dolls, I think of red, green, silver and gold. So, it was a bit of a shock to me that I really like the 2009 Holiday Barbie doll. She's--pink! Pink is not a traditional holiday color, but it is the perfect color for a holiday Barbie doll that caps off Barbie's 50th anniversary year. Find out more in my review of the 2009 Holiday Barbie doll.

Charisma Brands announced today that they have acquired the Adora Doll Company, founded by David Lin and Frank Ren. Charisma, home of Marie Osmond Dolls, is already shipping 2009 Adora product to retailers and will introduce the new 2010 Adora designs at the IDEX and Toy Fair shows beginning in January 2010. Adora Doll is best knownn for their baby and toddler dolls. Adora's longtime customer service and sales administrator, Sandy Fawzi, will join the Charisma team and will continue in her role.

Mission City Press has announced that A Life of Faith dolls will no longer be produced. In a statement released today, the company told its collectors that "...due to the economic downturn that our country is facing, we are being required to discontinue producing ALOF products. This is an extremely heartbreaking thing for us, but we know that the seeds we have sown into the hearts of girls will continue to bear fruit for eternity." I have confirmed with the company that, unfortunately, Faith and Friends dolls will also be discontinued.

If you are a smoker, it's hard enough to cope with the fact that smoking can damage the health of you and your family. If you are also a doll collector, you also need to know that smoking can also damage your dolls. If you or someone in your family smokes around your doll collection, you need to read the Top Reasons to Not Smoke Around Your Dolls.

Kirsten Larson, the American Girl pioneer doll who has her story set in 1854, is being retired by American Girl LLC. Kirsten is one of the original American Girl dolls, and she has been sold by the company since their first catalog in 1986. Kirsten joins Samantha in the archives--Samantha is another one of the original American Girls that was retired last year.

I greatly enjoyed my trip to Duncan, Oklahoma to present a program about dolls from 1918 through the early 1940s for Vintage Day. Although the program focused mainly on composition dolls, I also discussed the bisque, celluloid and cloth dolls that were available during the heyday of the W.T. Foreman Prarie House. After the program, there was a doll show and then I did appraisals on dolls. I love this type of program, since it brings knowledge about dolls to people who don't necessarily collect dolls but who are eager to learn more about the dolls that are owned by their families.

I've been spending some time identifying several antique doll collections that I've received on consignment, and stumbled across this very useful German site, Puppenmarkenlexicon which has a listing of "visual" marks of antique bisque German dollmakers. By visual marks, I'm referring to marks that are not just the name of the dollmaking company and/or mold numbers, but marks that incorporate artwork and other mark information. The site is not exhaustive, and I can't read a word of the site, but it can definitely help you identify some of those antique German marks that are hard to look up in a book!

I've never really understood Kim Kardashian (exactly why is she famous?) but I must say she makes a very pretty Barbie Doll. Ms. Kardashian was recently photographed for a 16-page, Barbie photo essay in the Australian magazine Kurv. Mattel approved the photography shoot as part of Barbie's 50th anniversary celebration. Kurv with the Karrdashian-as-Barbie photos will be available in the United States in October, but you can see some of the photos right now at Entertainment Tonight online.

The Prairie House will hold its second annual Vintage Day on Sunday,September 27th, from 1 to 5 p.m. in Duncan, Oklahoma. Admission to the event is free. There will be a program on dolls focusing on the bisque and composition dolls popular during the early days of The Prarie House (circa 1918 - 1940) as well as a display of dolls brought by attendees and doll appraisals. Tours of Prarie House will be given. I am a special guest at this event, and I'll be giving the program as well as doing appraisals. I hope to see you there!

Now that my children are older I rarely go to McDonalds, so imagine my surprise when the need for a quick meal took me there this week and I found that McDonald's was running an American Girl Happy Meal promotion! I believe the promotion has been running for a week or two, which means that there is still time left to get the American Girl-themed Happy Meals which include tiny American Girl books with activities!

• American Girl Dolls
• American Girl Place
• The Allure of the American Girl Doll

^{Photo © 2009 Denise Van Patten. Licensed to About.com, Inc}