I’m a sucker for anything Madeline, especially the wonderful books by Ludwig Bemelmans
. A few years ago we went to a book signing where Bemelmans’ grandson had written the first new Madeline book in fifty years. It was a blast. I have all the Madeline books, and most of the Madeline cartoons, but at Christmas I drag out even more stuff.
I have some Madeline action figures and playsets that came out a few years ago. As you can see below, I have the Madeline La Petite DANIELLE 15 Piece Play Set (which has the art set and Madeline’s friend Danielle), the Madeline Hat Boutique
, and that awesome purple Eiffel Tower (with working elevator.)
At Christmas, I pull the whole thing out and display it. I also have a Madeline tree, which is blue and has tons of Madeline shrinky dinks on it. On our larger tree, I have a couple Madeline ornaments. The ironic thing? I didn’t have any of this stuff when I was a kid! But I always loved the rhyme and subject matter of the Madeline books. (A book about a little red-haired girl, with a dog named Genevieve, who lived in Paris? Can’t imagine why I’d dig that!)