Columnist’s Note: As I recall the gifts most boys wanted in the early ’40s were a Lionel Electric Train, or a BB Gun and since my mom was dead, set against the gun, I was smart enough to tell Santa I wanted the train. I had no way of knowing it was also what my dad, and all the other men in the neighborhood wanted too.
Everyone has a favorite Christmas memory, and it is usually tied to a special gift they recieved at the time. This is not meant to take away from the spiritual meaning of the day, but as kids I believe we were concerned with those packages under the tree more than anything else, and it was up to the adults to remind of us of the other more important reason for the holiday. One of my favorite Christmas memories from when I was a kid was the year I was seven, and got the Lionel Train set, with an engine that blew smoke, and had a headlight that actually worked. I can still remember sitting in the dark, and watching it go around its small oval track, with that tiny light the only visible thing in the room.
While it was a wonderful Christmas that year the main thing I remember about the day, is how little I was able to play with that train, because my dad, and all the other men in the neighborhood had it tied up reliving their own childhoods. It seems funny to me now, but I am sure I didn’t think so at the time. I still remember all those “big kids” sitting on the floor watching that train making its’ circle, and waiting their turn at the controls; mom did her best to get them to give it up, but it was well into the day before I finally got my hands on the controller, and even then I had several grown supervisors hovering over me. I didn’t have too many more Christmas days with my father, because he died when I was nine, and that may also be one of the reasons I remember that day so well.
The little train lasted well into my teenage years, but like many other things from my youth it disappeared. The train was either lost during a move, or misplaced in some other way by a young careless boy who didn’t realize how much he would want it for his second childhood.
I don’t think we ever get too old for toys, and at this time of the year I find myself wishing I could sit in a dark room once more, and watch that little train go round and round with its’ little headlight showing the way. From my family to yours we wish you a “Merry Christmas”.
