Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. She was a children's Christmas song come to life. On Dec. 24, 1953, a 700-pound "baby" lumbered from her moving crate into the ...
Gayla Peevey was just 10 years old when her unforgettable holiday anthem, “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” became a national sensation in 1953. The song made Peevey a part of Oklahoma history.