If you’re a woman around my age (29, just as I’ve been for years, why do you ask?), you might remember being infatuated with Holly Hobbie as a child. I know I was. I had a Holly Hobbie lunchbox, thankyouverymuch. This was back in the 70s, when we were all wearing ruffled prairie skirts and wishing we were Laura Ingalls. Holly Hobbie fit into all of that quite nicely. But will today’s girls see the whimsical sweetness in Holly or turn up their noses?

Have no fear: The new Holly Hobbie (great-granddaughter of the original) is updated just enough to attract our CD-playing, cool-clothes-wearing daughters, but not so much as to lose that winsome charm many of us already know and love. (Want to learn more? Check out the Surprise Party DVD, which features music by LeAnn Rimes.)

And now there’s even more reason to love the new Holly—she’s giving away prizes! Fire up your girls; there’s great winnings to be had:

Holly and her friends Amy and Carrie are always sharing and enjoying adventures. The ââ¬Å“Best Friends Contestââ¬Â is an opportunity for children ages 6 to 12 to submit a 250 word essay describing an experience or adventure they shared with their best friend that made them realize they were truly best friends. From October 3 through November 6, kids (with parental consent) can enter online at www.hollyhobbie.com. The first 100 completed entries will receive the new Holly Hobbie & Friends Christmas Wishes DVD.

On November 13, 2006, 16 semi-finalists will be selected and posted on hollyhobbie.com. Eight from the 6-8 age range and eight from the 9-12 age range. Entries will be judged using the following criteria: Originality, Clarity of Thought and Appropriateness to Theme. Grand and Semi-Finalists will be selected by a panel of expert judges and Holly Hobbie Representatives. All 16 semi-finalists will receive iPod Nanos and a Holly Hobbie & Friends merchandise package for themselves and their best friends. Among these 16 semi-finalists, there will be 4 grand prize winners who will be announced on December 13, 2006 at hollyhobbie.com. The 4 grand prize winners and their best friends will receive a HP Digital Camera and printer in addition to their semi-finalist prizes.

My daughter is already working on her story. Actually, she’s already picking out a case for her iPod, so I suspect a conversation about trying her best and accepting the outcome is in our future….

Be that as it may, consider this your opportunity to meet an old friend again, and introduce her to your own little girl. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

I’ve talked about Thomas the Tank Engine and his pals here once before. They were a huge part of my family’s life for a long time, and although I perhaps don’t always feel the love, it’s clear that the appeal of these characters is magnetic when it comes to most small boys. (Yes, I know, girls like Thomas, too! But I’ve yet to meet the little girl who has converted as fully to the Cult of Thomas the way that nearly every preschool boy I’ve met has.)

So I got to wondering how it was that these stories evolved. I knew that the original stories had been written by Reverend Wilbert Awdry, but why? Was he a train buff? Was the ministry not paying enough? So I dug around a bit, and I found a pretty good summary of how Thomas and his friends came to be. It turns out that the Rev. Awdry invented these tales to entertain his son Christopher while the boy was recovering from scarlet fever.

(Hey, some of the greatest stories start with a yarn spun for a sick kid, y’know.)

Wikipedia further notes that “Many of the stories are based on events from Awdry’s personal experience.” Which… well, I don’t want to know. (”This one time, we were enjoying scones for breakfast and a train just crashed right through the wall. It was the darndest thing!”)

The first “Railway Series” books were published in 1945, and the rest—as they say—is history. It’s a short jump from that to stop-frame animation on PBS, apparently.

Do you have a Thomas fan on board? Check out the all-new Thomas & Friends Store at Ty’s. Perhaps you’ll be assisting Santa with his shopping this year…? (If Junior has been especially good, perhaps Santa will bring him this.)

Not shopping right now? No problem. You can still feed the need for Thomas. Check out the online Thomas activities and coloring pages here and here. Even if perhaps you’re tiring of your child’s Thomas obsession, listen—one day he will declare that Thomas is just for babies and you’ll wish for the days when you needed a crowbar to separate him from his train table. Trust me. So indulge him while you can, because he’ll be on to the next thing before you know it.