Holiday Storytime Part 1: Dressing My American Girl Dolls for Christmas

[@ladero01]

You have lived quite the life. I love that you're comfortable enough to share.

[@DisBlaine]

@@ladero01 haha it’s just me sharing experiences the way anyone else does. It’s just my experiences happen to be unusual 🤣

[@JoanneSag]

Blaine, you have such a wonderful, kind, and wise insight to everything that has happened to you and yet you live with such grace. That in itself is such a wonderful beautiful thing to share with others. Blessings.

[@DisBlaine]

@@JoanneSag awww Joanne you’re so sweet! Truthfully I had no control over what happened to me, so I feel zero responsibility for it lol. That means I can speak about it freely.

[@Chloeee182]

Thank you for feeling open enough to share your story. I'm neurodivergent, so I grew up similarly in terms of not fitting in and having a strong sense of justice. I'm glad we can both embrace our "weirdness" as adults and be around the dolls we love so much. You're quickly becoming my favorite doll KZbinr, your videos feel like I'm listening to a friend chat while I do my own chores or doll dressing up. Can't wait for more ☺️

[@DisBlaine]

@@Chloeee182 awww that’s so sweet of you to say!! All of it lol. The beauty of not fitting in is you eventually find others who didn’t fit in… to fit in with 🤯😊 I’m glad my videos feel that way, because I started making them to create such friendships.

[@chantelconrad4221]

Thank you for sharing. I remember the psychologist story from your Pride video and.I have to say, even if you and your Mom have different memories of how the visit to the psychologist came about, the thing that stuck out to me then and now is how wonderful it is that a child psychologist in that time basically told your parents to just let you be who you are and your parents actually listened. Looking forward to part 2.

[@DisBlaine]

@@chantelconrad4221 oh yeah, that’s a good point I think I glossed over this time. I remember when I got older I told my mom I was lucky he never suggested shock therapy or some kind of conversion treatment!

[@DarcysNova626]

My mate and I were just talking about how, while you can wish you hadn't had to go through as much as you do, we wouldn't be the people we are today without our pasts. People who can embrace their pasts and use that to build their current and future selves in a healthy way are my tribe. Thank you for always sharing and helping those of us who don't always speak up to find our voices. Also - love Teuila in the winter outfit, I need to get my apartment unpacked enough that I can change my dolls for winter/holidays.

[@DisBlaine]

@@DarcysNova626 yeah my motto is we can’t control our experiences, but we can control how we respond to them. Any bad things that happened to me I obviously didn’t ask for, but I chose to learn whatever I could from them to fuel me to be better. Teuila didn’t look very good in the video, but I fixed her afterward and can’t wait to show her again soon 🤗

[@steph585]

Thanks for the riveting story. I can’t wait for part 2. It has been such a joy getting to know you on your channel. I love your take on life. You are so resilient. I’m sorry for any suffering you lived through and am so glad you have a happy life now. The dolls look great.

[@DisBlaine]

@@steph585 tbh I think I was more resilient as a kid. I’ve worked hard to be content and peaceful-so I’m not sure I’d survive this particular type of adversity now lol.

[@melissazhai]

What a beautiful video. Makes me want to be more like that family who opened their home to you no questions asked. Wish I was bolder and unafraid to be myself like you are.

[@DisBlaine]

@@melissazhai welllll it’d probably be a lot weirder to take in a grown man than a child in need-especially when he comes with hundreds of dolls 🤣🤣🤣

[@eliseelliot]

All your dolls look lovely! Love their holiday outfits. Thank you for sharing your stories- the MLP castle one made me laugh, thinking about confused baby!Blaine.

[@DisBlaine]

@@eliseelliot I’ve always been too literal minded for my own good, so my dads way of surprising me with the dream castle didn’t work as well as it would’ve on a normal 4 year old ☠️🤣

[@nailahvenable7989]

Thanks for sharing your life experiences. These experiences good and bad make us who we are. Looking forward to part 2. The dolls look great.

[@DisBlaine]

@@nailahvenable7989 exactly that! We don’t choose our experiences, only how we react to them.

[@DARKBARBiEDiFFERENT]

Your dress up videos are so personal! I love these the most, I think. I remember commenting about the therapist before and how neat I thought that was especially in that time.. they knew you were just different. There's nothing wrong. Let him have a dang mlp! Lol sounds like you have nice supportive parents who tried with you kids. It feels like chatting with a long-distance friend, rekindling on childhood stories before the holidays while I watch this. Great job!!! I just recorded my doll Dress up video and I only have 4 AGs to dress and it took me an hour, I couldnt do the actual dressing on camera I just talked about the outfits and why after 😂😂I'll probably post that next week... props.to you maybe I talk too much😅 I love this thanks again Blaine ❤❤ happy holidays can't wait to see what you might get hehe

[@DisBlaine]

@@DARKBARBiEDiFFERENT eeeks yes sometimes I really over share on here. I don’t think that’s enjoyable to everyone, so I only hope I give enough warning 🫣🤣 I’m forever grateful the psychologist didn’t suggest shock therapy or conversion camp, but my poor parents didn’t have much choice in what I did. I was very particular about everything, even food. (I still apologize to my mother for making her de-yoke my eggs because I would only eat the whites 👀☠️) If you started your dolls with just a truly me shirt-dress, would that make it more manageable? I try to do minimal undressing - that takes up unnecessary time and makes such a mess - but showing predressed dolls and talking about them is totally fine ofc! Dressing my dolls gives me something to do while I talk - and these talking videos motivate me to change my dolls!

[@americangirlfilms]

There’s nothing as special as getting a MLP Castle for Christmas!! I also received one around that age and the box WAS huge!! 😂💓 I can’t wait for part two!! I really relate to leaving the nonsense behind you. Thank you for sharing your stories with us!! 💓 Btw Tiana is gorgeous with Lila’s(?) wig! Everyone looks amazing!! 🎄💛

[@DisBlaine]

@@americangirlfilms oops I forgot to say it’s Lila’s wig. When I was older I got the MLP Patadise Estate, which was like 5x bigger ☠️

[@americangirlfilms]

@ Lila has such a beautiful wig, it’s easy to spot! I love all of the combinations you come up with! 💓 I looked up the one I had, and I had the Celebration Castle from 2003! 🫶🏻

[@DisBlaine]

@ girl the celebration castle was exactly 20 years after the dream castle. I didn’t think for a second we were talking about the same one 🤣🤣

[@Grandma_HoneyVA]

I probably love your stories more than the content, and I absolutely Live your content!!!!!❤❤❤❤

[@DisBlaine]

@@Grandma_HoneyVA I guess the good news is there are 2 ways to get watch these videos: with or without sound 🤣 Hopefully this content wasn’t too much (I tend to over share lolol)

[@charlotteamaro7165]

We got our daughters the My Little Pony Princess Castle for Christmas! We were up so late putting all the stickers on and getting it ready for Christmas morning. Thank you for the happy memory.

[@DisBlaine]

@@charlotteamaro7165 that was so thoughtful of you to assemble it ahead of time. I always had to wait all day for my parents to help me assemble mine. But I guess those are happy memories too lol. Merry Christmas!

[@charlotteamaro7165]

@DisBlaine Merry Christmas to you!!!

[@buffmontana4203]

You have perfect timing. Ending the story (somewhat) and finishing dressing your dolls. The boys outfit I really like, I've never seen that before, I have the set with the plaid pants. One of my girls likes to dress like a boy sometimes. It would be perfect for her. As usual your dolls look beautiful and your stories make me ponder (if that's the right word).

[@DisBlaine]

@@buffmontana4203 this is only the second time I managed to finsh my doll changing and storytelling at the same time. What a relief it was lol! I don’t remember if the boy outift came out last Christmas or the one before. I don’t see it around much so I feel like it wasn’t very popular. The pants are so soft!

[@djg5950]

That outfit is called Pop of Plaid. It's the boy's Christmas 2023 outfit. The Janie and Jack green and navy plaid pants, blue shirt, and navy velvet vest was the boy's 2022 Christmas outfit. They didn't release one for this year. After Christmas last year I bought two of those Pop of Plaid outfits for $20 each because I needed white shirts for my boy dolls and it came with a white shirt. I also can use the black pants, shoes (AG makes nice black dress shoes for boy dolls), and black socks. The red vest and red plaid scarf is redundant (I sell those). I paid full price for one set so I have 3 sets. The J&J set I bought two (one on sale after Christmas) and the J&J green and navy plaid skirt so I can dress up Lindsey and her twin brother Taylor (Lindsey with a haircut) in matching Christmas outfits. Those are my custom AG twins.

[@DisBlaine]

@ do you remember what year the plain boy Christmas outfit came out? It was shown on 76 and looks like a ventriloquist outfit tbh (suspenders and bow tie).

[@erikarichmond9200]

I absolutely love when you share your story's and love your videos cannot wait for part 2!!! Keep doing what you're doing you make amazing content, and I always can't wait till you post ❤❤ you actually inspired me to purchase my first AG doll as I am from New Zealand and want to become a collector like you, so thank you so much for being you!!!

[@DisBlaine]

@@erikarichmond9200 first, thank you for your lovely comment (I don’t think we’ve spoken on here before) and second, let’s see if you still thank me after your first AG purchase turned into your 20th! 😆 I can’t imagine how hard they are to get in New Zealand!

[@erikarichmond9200]

@@DisBlaine Your so welcome!! I am usually a silent viewer, so I don't usually ever comment but I thought I would, considering you actually take the time to reply to everyone which is awesome! Oh, tell me about it I am instantly hooked already but so worth it though. 😂 It can be extremely difficult to get them, I've wanted one for 6 plus years and couldn't bring myself to buying one till I came across your videos, so I found a personal shopper from AG and the shipping prices are absolutely ridiculous, as well as the overall prices converted from USD to NZD. When finding out having to pay 35% of the price over the amount of $175 was enough to make me have kittens 🤣 but again is so worth it having something that becomes such a joy.

[@DisBlaine]

@ it’s always a pleasure when a particular video encourages silent viewers to engage. I’m glad you feel the doll was worth it. I always feel pangs of guilt when my videos encourage people to buy stuff… even though I’m always looking for the tiniest excuse to buy stuff myself 🤣 Still, I wish you had an easier time buying dolls…

[@empresslyssie]

Amazing❤❤❤❤

[@DisBlaine]

@@empresslyssie thank you!

[@DollsAllGrown-Up]

That's it. I know now. This is why I have always felt so attached to your channel and everything related to it 😂 (Disclaimer: NOT A STALKER). So, seriously - we have had some very similar experiences, although our stories are very different 🙂 Not fitting in, ever, when you are a child and the need to put things right and stand up against the wrong 🙂 You grow up to be quirky, so a shout out to all of us out there 🥰 And, Blaine, yet again - THANK YOU for sharing and being so PERSONAL. 🥰 And as to the memories, I think mums (in particular) often choose how to remember things because they cannot go back and change how it was 🙂

[@DisBlaine]

@@DollsAllGrown-Up well if we had trouble fitting in as kids, certainly playing with dolls as adults won’t help us now 🤣🤣 But in my teens I did find a group of misfits who were all kind of rejected by everyone. And as much as they had in common, I still didn’t fit in with them either lol. But I loved them. You’re so right about Mom Memory: I’m always telling my sister she retcons our lives out of guilt. I’m glad you can relate to all my rambling… but I’m not sure what it says about you 👀 🫣 🤣🤣🤣

[@DollsAllGrown-Up]

@@DisBlaine Haha! It says I GREW UP JUST FINE 🤣🤣

[@annettefedd488]

Love your stories. Have you ever thought about writing a book? I think it would sell. Love all the outfits.

[@DisBlaine]

@@annettefedd488 I wrote this all out as part of therapy when I was as younger (then a social worker had the nerve to tell me I told it like it was a story, as if I was detached from my experiences 🫥). That’s probably why so much of it is imprinted on my brain

[@Joolieannie]

omg we have the same exact custom!!! tiana in lilas wig

[@DisBlaine]

@@Joolieannie what a difference it makes on her eh? It was a total accident, but once I tried it on her there was no turning back 🤣

[@kerrysmiles]

Oh no a cliffhanger. Thanks for being willing to share your story. I've spent a lot of time in my life off and on homeless. It's a part of my life many can't understand. Thanks for sharing. I think the more people that hear stories like yours they will recognize how not uncommon life experiences like this are. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself for the next few weeks waiting for part two...*on the edge of my seat*

[@DisBlaine]

@@kerrysmiles it’ll be a week or two-but originally the planned to upload the first day of Hanukkah - which falls inn Christmas Eve this year. That sounded annoying, so I’ll likely do it in 10 days or so. And yes you make a good point! While I don’t want to sound like I’m glorifying homelessness, I talk about it in a way meant to destigmatize it. It’s just something I went through-and I met wayyyyyy too many others back then to know it’s, as you said, more common than people would think. And it definitely takes a few tries to put it behind you. I hope you’ve overcome it.

[@CherishedDollFriends]

Thanks for sharing more of your stories. I was listening while I had my dinner. I peeked at the dolls at the end. They looked beautiful and very Christmasy. I had a childhood that I wish I could have escaped parts of. Not sure if I could ever share it on KZbin but maybe someday if we ever meet I will tell you about it. My heart goes out to you. I think you are very brave. 🙏🥰

[@DisBlaine]

@@CherishedDollFriends oh yeah I guess that’s an option too lol! Just look at the dolls at the end. One thing I learned living in a shelter is most people who grow up with abuse are shy or ashamed of it. I’ve never felt that way because I understood even then that it was out of my control. And talking about it is nice because others can see there’s nothing wrong with coming from a dark past. Not that I’m telling you to share your experiences! I’m just saying I don’t feel like I share from a brave place, just a matter of fact one.

[@CherishedDollFriends]

I understand what you are saying. It happened so it is a matter of fact. That is often how I tell my story too if and when I tell it. There is nothing wrong with that. It’s a coping mechanism that has served me well too. Staying positive and moving forward as a happy person is the best gift we can give ourselves…other than more dolls!!😂❤️

[@DisBlaine]

@ haha yes, dolls and positivity go hand in hand in coping. I’m sure that’s healthy 🤪

[@Anon4a2cp]

This brings me so much hope. I was homeless at 17 too and am now 25 in a rental house but still struggling financially but if you can do it, I can too I really am grateful you shared.

[@DisBlaine]

@@Anon4a2cp awwww it means a lot that this video was helpful in any way. Tbh I was still struggling at 25 too. It definitely takes time and many lessons to get things in order. I do live a peaceful, content life at this point, so yes of course there’s hope! I don’t want to scare you, but it was in my 30s. It could be sooner for you! I rented so many rooms in my 20s! My partner was doing the same when we met 4 years ago. It really brought me back…

[@Salemagdolls]

As someone who was also raised in an almost entirely one-income family with three other siblings, and we barely got by with my dad's income. My grandparents on my mom's side still managed to give us the Christmasses we always heard Santa gave other kids. My first AG doll I got was Kit, and my mom gave me and siblings her childhood collection to split. I didn't realize it was my grandparents until after my parents divorced. (My grandparents still aren't very good people by the way).

[@DisBlaine]

@@Salemagdolls I think it’s part of the reason Christmas is so special to me: it was the time of year my family seemed king of normal 🥴 Not just the gifts, but getting along and everything else. I hope your grandparents were easier to get along with at Christmas time at least…

[@Salemagdolls]

@@DisBlaine Yeah, even though I'm 21 now and in college, my parents, mainly my dad, still try to give me the christmas experience with my younger siblings. I can get along with them most of the time just fine, but living with them was torture after my parents' divorce when I still lived with my mom.

[@brutallyhonestdollreviews]

Looking forward to part two! You are one resilient man. Did you manage to find me on the book of faces? I use the same name as i do here.

[@DisBlaine]

@@brutallyhonestdollreviews hmmm I think I was only resilient because I was young. Don’t think I would survive these things now! I only see “brutally honest reviews” on there, no doll in the title. Is that you?

[@iamsoverybored878]

I have the Wellie Wisher Jaine and Jack dress. I haven't put it back on a doll because I like the dress she has on more. It's my favorite Wellie Wisher outfit.

[@DisBlaine]

@@iamsoverybored878 the red dress? It’s beautiful, so I hope you get your moneys worth this season.

[@PumpkinsSparkles]

Love story time! ❤

[@DisBlaine]

@@PumpkinsSparkles sometimes they’re hard to title because I could talk about anything and call it that!

[@rosyp71]

Hi Disblane! Love the stories and the girls. I can’t wait till the Hanukah video. My question is, Do you ever plan to visit Florida for a meet up? I will be there! We have the Orlando store. I’m in Miami, about 4 hours away, but if you ever plan to come on a weekend, I’ll drive there.

[@DisBlaine]

@@rosyp71 ohhhh someone asked the Orlando question on IG. I wonder if that’s why they asked (because they live there).

[@rosyp71]

@ yes! Maybe so. You know, it is the only American Girl store left in Florida. We had one in Miami, but it closed a couple of years ago. The one in Orlando could be the closest to that other person too. It looks like you can get a meetup going in Orlando! That would be so cool! You are the one AG collector I would love to meet and hang out with. 😃😍

[@carolreardon528]

I am so amazed how you have just blossomed into such a wonderful KZbinr! You have come a long way baby… do you have the option of ever moving into a larger space to have a dedicated doll room… that would be amazing! Another question! Besides Claudie and Tianna… Do you have any other holy grail doll. Do you have the need to complete a collection?

[@DisBlaine]

@@carolreardon528 I feel like you’re referring to my first few videos ☠️🤣🫣 I leave them up to give anyone who’s thinking about staying a channel hope. You can’t start worse than I did! 🤡 Those questions are for rhe q&a right?

[@carolreardon528]

@ yes!

[@pjrox93]

if u get another addy u should put her into your collection have her be onikas mom but in your collection named angel maybe onikas sister

[@DisBlaine]

@@pjrox93 angel is a nice name for a doll! But not sure I’d ever make a parent character lol.

[@pjrox93]

@@DisBlaine what a sister for onnika

[@tinmanlover1994]

I saw the basket bàll hoop shirt that the boy dolls wear in the catalog what is the Outfit called?

[@DisBlaine]

@@tinmanlover1994 it’s from the CYO shop, City Style is the outfit name

[@tinmanlover1994]

@DisBlaine Thanks can I order the outfit separately without buying a CYO doll?

[@DisBlaine]

@ only if someone is selling it. AG doesn’t sell them separately

[@tluderman77]

Do you ever talk to Ricky

[@DisBlaine]

@@tluderman77 is this a q&a question? Tbh I only shared his name because we haven’t seen each other since we were teens 🤣

[@tluderman77]

I need the questions.I ask you can make it as a video.I'm okay with

[@tluderman77]

And this is my third question you don't have to answer any on line in the video or if you want to you can but do you still have My Little Pony castle that be cool Keep up the good work I joy your videos

[@DisBlaine]

@@tluderman77 lol no I don’t have any of my childhood toys. We moved wayyyyy too much to have kept anything

[@Latinart]

Blaine you are so lucky that your parents embraced your difference as a young child instead of rejecting them. Many gay young/children are forced to live a hedro-norm childhood. Only as adults they can live their true life.

[@DisBlaine]

@@Latinart haha if you ask my mom, she’d say I was the one doing the forcing. She calls it defiance, but I say tenacity 🤣 I was born stubborn and without the bone in my head that told me to care what others think.

[@tluderman77]

Can I ask what happened to your dad

[@DisBlaine]

@@tluderman77 hmmm that might be harder to answer on a platform like KZbin 😵‍💫

[@crystalbluepersuasion3897]

@@DisBlaine I'm curious too.