All I Want For Xmas Is A Non-Gender Specific EZ Bake Oven

This is one of the cutest holiday stories I've heard this year. A 13 year-old girl in New Jersey, Mackenna Pope, was shopping for an EZ Bake Oven for her brother Gavyn (real name!) who had it on his list. However, Mackenna noticed they only came in puple and pink which are pretty girly colors. Why was there no butch oven, she wondered....though I'm guessing she probably didn't use the word "butch."

So Mackenna got industrious and started a petition for Hasbro to make a non-gender specific oven that  received over 40,000 signatures online at Change.org. And guess what? Hasbro invited her to their headquarters and they will come out with a silver and black version of its iconic toy next year. (Turns out, it had been in the works for a little over a year but this certainly gave them some great press on it.) The new version of the EZ Bake will be in stores available for the 2013 Christmas season.

I love this story for two reasons: first their is the big sister angle which is just too adorable. But also there's a personal side too. When I was an aspiring young baker, I wanted an EZ Bake Oven for Christmas as well and put it on my list even. Needless to say, Santa did not bring me a pink plastic toy with which to bake cakes. Undeterred, my mom did allow me to use the adult oven and I baked up a storm in my youth; cookies, cakes, brownies and even fudge.

Anyway, this is just a lovely story in a season that could use it, with the tragedy in Connecticut dominating the news. Below is a cute report on these two kids from CBS News.