This year we decided to put a train under the Christmas tree. We started out to find a nice little set and a loop of track. Now, just 3 weeks after setting out on this project, we have handed over something north of $800 and have a big Lionel passenger train which goes around the tree. And down the wall. And around the legs and pedals of the piano. We have a fake tree but let it be known we have a real Christmas train!
And that brings me to this: I don't miss the smell of a real tree in the house-- not any more than I miss the sap or pine needles all over. What I have discovered in the absence of the fragrance of a real tree is the undiminished aroma of a Lionel transformer and smoke generating locomotive. The longer you run it the better it gets.
It's funny: When you think of all the memories of all the Christmases past, you don't know what you're missing until an experience like this comes along. Then, if you're lucky. you remember all the fun those trains were way back then; whether they were your own or belonged to that family across the street. Either way, you remember a whole other layer of the holiday excitement of your childhood. And, now with a 3 year old of my own, I'm the lucky one and glad for the discovery. I hope he grows up to be the caretaker of this fine Lionel train and with my nose for the Holidays.
