| Christmas is approaching at a speed that tells us it | | | | the next few years, I had several Christmas train |
| is time to get our holiday decorations out and set | | | | sets to include one on a ping pong table, and one |
| up. Of all our Christmas decorations the Christmas | | | | going around the base of the Christmas tree. But |
| Train is the one Christmas decoration that I have | | | | as the size of the family grew, I had to |
| the fondest memories...the train going around the | | | | consolidate the train sets into one large Christmas |
| tree every year is the one memory that both | | | | model railroad set that would run on its train |
| my kids and I most cherish. | | | | tracks on the Ping Pong table until after the |
| My first memory of a train at Christmas was at | | | | holidays. The last year we had both Christmas |
| my grandparents house in Cleveland, Ohio. My | | | | Trains running, was when my son was just a |
| brother and both looked forward to playing with | | | | toddler, and the presents did not crowd the tree. |
| the train and often had contests to see who | | | | Now my kids are teenagers, and they still look |
| could run it the longest. After my grandparents | | | | forward to setting up the holiday train on |
| moved into a retirement community, the train set | | | | Christmas Eve. My family has many fond |
| was just a memory that I would one day have | | | | memories of that train set, and to be sure, we |
| to make a reality again. | | | | will continue to delight in having our train track up |
| The first year I got married, I bought a small train | | | | and running before Santa comes down the |
| set and set it up around the Christmas tree. Then | | | | chimney. |