When I was 9 years old I had been looking at the catalogs from Sears and Montgomery Wards and JCPenny for about 2 months before Christmas. Each time I turned to the page where the electric trains were advertised. I dreamed of these trains and how they would look on my living room floor. My next door neighbor Wesley had a Lionel and he and I spent hours and hours making track designs in his house. then just before Christmas we made a trip into the big city and went to all of the stores.While my parents were shopping I was at the electric train layouts dreaming and watching.. My father was always building something in the garage he was a master carpenter and he told me he was building my mother some new cabinets. On Christmas morning when I got up there was this big table in the living room and it looked totally out of place. Then came time to open the packages and as you guessed there was my electric train. The table was for the train and my dad had made wooden houses and an entire city and built scenery. It was beyond my wildest dreams. But as I look back on those days it was not the material things that made Christmas but the presence of a lovely family. John in the Indian Nations.
My Most Memorable Christmas
Dec 26, 2008
2 Replies
Great memories!
John,
You are so right. It isn't very often the gift that is so meaningful as it is the time & effort that someone puts ito it because of their love for the recipient. When I was young, I thought about the "things" that Christmastime brought. Today, now that much of my family is gone, I hink about the effort that was made to provide those things. That now means more than the gifts themselves. Although I have to admit, I wish I still had some of them... not because of what they were, but because of who they were from.
dlm
Join the Discussion
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Didn't find your answer?
Ask the community — no account required