Ahh, the Barbie Picnic Van: the one that got away.
I came from a low to mid socio-economic background, so my parents couldn’t always afford to buy my sister and I everything we wanted.
But that year (1997, when I was 10), all I wanted was the Barbie Picnic Van, the only gift that wasn’t sitting under the tree that fateful Christmas morning.
I know now that it was probably a very expensive toy, and my parents know now just how much I wanted it. But all I knew back then was that (full disclosure:) Santa wasn’t real. If he was, he would have known that I would have sacrificed all my presents of Christmas past, present and future (try saying that five times fast!) to be able to drive Barbie, Ken, my sister’s Splash ’n’ Play Kelly (or some variation of that) and my Mum’s vintage Skipper around in the wilderness that was my lounge room/bedroom/backyard.
