Maplelea & Me by Maplelea Girls

I'm here in the nick of time to finish out December (and 2025!) with one last 18-inch doll review.  This time, I'll be looking at a Maplelea doll, which isn't something I've done since my Saila Qilavvaq review in 2014.  It's certainly past time for me to check in with this brand and see what's new.

This is sort-of an addition to my advent calendar series, but I had to cheat because there's no official Maplelea advent calendar.  I wish there was, because I feel like this company would do an outstanding job with the design and execution of such a thing.  Maybe they'll consider it for the future?  I'd certainly buy something like that.  For now, I found a cute handmade calendar that I'll share with you at the end of the review.  Mostly, though, this post will be all about Maplelea & Me KMF43:

Maplelea & Me KMF43 ($115).

Merry Christmas From Lena and Ian!

Lena asked me the other day if she could do a quick blog post for the holidays.  I think she's worried that she's put her professional life on hold for too long--but I'll let her explain what's been going on around here.  I'm going to take the day off!

Christmas 2025.

The American Girl Advent Calendar

It's time for the third installment of the advent calendar series!  For those who may have missed the previous reviews, I started by looking at a My Life As doll and her calendar, then enjoyed some time with an Our Generation girl and her calendar.  Of those two, the Our Generation experience was more rewarding.  However, I've yet to look at the behemoth of the 18-inch doll market: American Girl.

My last American Girl doll review was the Girls From Many Lands post that I wrote in 2024.  However, those dolls aren't conventional American Girl dolls, so maybe it doesn't count.  Before that, I looked at Gwynn Tan in 2022.  Gwynn is a 14-inch doll, though, so maybe she doesn't count, either?  I think the last classic, 18-inch American Girl doll that I reviewed was Eliza, way back in 2017.  She was a Create Your Own American Girl, who I ordered when that concept first launched.

I decided to mirror my experience from eight years ago, and so another Create Your Own doll will join me as we look at the 2025 American Girl calendar:

Create Your Own American Girl doll ($275).

The Our Generation Advent Calendar

I'm back with the second in this year's series of advent calendar reviews!  Last week I looked at a new My Life As doll and the advent calendar from that brand, and today I'll be looking at an Our Generation doll and her advent calendar.

I was fortunate to have Lurkins write a guest review about Our Generation dolls in September of 2022, otherwise my last interaction with these toys would have been way back in 2014.  Yikes.  So, big thanks to Lurkins for keeping me reasonably up-to-date.  Still, I was eager to look at a current Our Generation character and see for myself what the quality is like.  Also, this brand has the most accessible advent calendar for 18-inch dolls on the market right now:

Our Generation doll, Aubrie ($23.99).

The My Life As Advent Calendar

It's advent calendar time again!  I had a lot of fun last year with this series, but got overly ambitious by opening ten calendars throughout December and part of January.  This year I decided to take a different approach: I'm only going to look at three calendars, each of which is geared towards a specific brand of 18-inch doll.

One of the reasons I chose this approach is that I've been neglecting 18-inch dolls lately.  I can't even remember the last time I reviewed a doll this size.  Part of that is because when we moved to New Jersey from Maine (five years ago now!), I gave away or sold most of my 18-inch dolls.  They take up a lot of space.  I miss them, though, and was eager to add a few back into my collection.

Each of the three reviews this month will take a brief look at an 18-inch doll, and a more in-depth look at her associated calendar.  Does that sound like fun?  I hope so, because I'm ready to kick things off with My Life As Peyton and her 2024 advent calendar:

My Life As Peyton, $29.88.