Burge Onin Gsilt

It was Sept. 28 and I was late too late to score a lunch reservation at American Girl Place for any weekend from mid-November to mid-December. This was a problem. Our trip to the American Girl mega-complex on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan had become a tradition in our family _ something my daughters and, yes, even me, really looked forward to as a way to kick off the holidays. If I think about it rationally, I shouldn't like it so much. It's too expensive, it's too crowded, it's too ridiculous to think about scores of girls lined up for their turn to watch their dolls get their hair styled at the AG Salon for $20 - and perhaps a facial scrub (for the dolls) too.