Christmas Dinner with Cousin Mattie's Brother's Sister's People

A happy little girl, named Dell, is shown with dolls and other toys she received for Christmas in 1971.  Upon first glance at this picture, I readily identified Moovin Groovin Crissy by Ideal and Crumpet by Kenner.

Facebook friend and author of the book Carried, Dell Sanders, posted the above photo on her Facebook timeline that was taken on Christmas Day, December 1971.  In the photo, young Dell is seen with dolls she received for Christmas that year.  Based on comments to her post, I understood that she did not know the identity of one of the dolls.   I commented:

You were a blessed little girl. The doll in green is Crumpet by Kenner, released in 1971. The white and black versions are shown at the link. http://blippee.com/blog/all-toys/crumpet-the-tea-party-doll?cn-reloaded=1

Dell thanked me for helping her recall the doll's name.  She shared that she spent a lot of time having tea parties with Crumpet as a child.  She also wanted to know the ID of another doll in the photo that she described as flat, bendable and lying in the white cradle.  With a link to an online article, I helped her ID the doll as Ideal's Flatsy, which was on the market from 1969 to 1973.

Later, Dell asked if I knew the name of a type of doll that one of her childhood friends owned. Based on the description that they were "pantyhose dolls," with very expressive faces, I recalled an unused greeting card that a fellow (now deceased) collector, Freda Goldston, had sent me years ago along with several other unused Afrocentric greeting cards.  Freda had sent these cards to me because she knew I would appreciate the artwork.  Dell and I were communicating about this last doll around 2 a.m. CST.  I told her about the card with images of dolls made from pantyhose that I owned that was in my doll room and that I would share the name of the dolls as soon as I was up and about.

The name of the greeting card line was Cousin Mattie's Brother's Sister's People.  Scans of the front, inside, and back of the "Christmas Dinner" greeting card that Freda sent me well over a decade ago are shown below.

Front of "Christmas Dinner" greeting card featuring Cousin Mattie's Brother's Sister's People dolls

 "Christmas Dinner" greeting

Back of "Christmas Dinner" greeting card

In the December 1988 issue of Ebony magazine, the article, "Blacks With Unusual Businesses" by Roxanne Brown profiled greeting cards designer, Cheryl Munson.  A scan of that article is shown next.  Touchscreen users can stretch the image to enlarge the text.  If using a mouse, click the image to enlarge.

Cheryl Munson is shown with Cousin Mattie's Brother's Sister's People dolls and her line of greeting cards that feature the life-size dolls which are made of stuffed pantyhose.

Upon googling, "Cousin Mattie's Brother's Sister's People," a Youtube Christmas greeting video was the top result.  View the video here. 

Update 12/17/22. Ms. Munson transitioned on December 13, 2022. She will remain alive in the hearts of those who knew and loved her. Her whimsical greeting cards will remain part of her artistically creative legacy.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas
a Happy Kwanzaa
and a Happy New Year!

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