Christmas
morning protocol was not set in stone, but we adhered to it. We wanted to make sure that Santa had eaten
his cookies and drank his milk, and that Mom and Dad were sufficiently awake to
navigate through any presents that Santa may have left. Years later we knew that Christmas protocol
was really for Mom and Dad to enjoy a cup of hot coffee and some Christmas
cookies or toast before the opening of presents and all the screaming
that accompanied that tradition!
We had to wait
until “Santa” and his “helper” had arranged the gifts properly by name, the
tree lights were turned on, the stockings were checked for last minute
additions, and that everything was ready for the onslaught of three little girls
to follow. Dad would call, “Ready”! and
we would come running down 23 stairs from the second floor to the first, barely hanging on to the railing, our feet flying over the steps.
We could not see the tree because of its
location in a bay window on the side of the house. The bay window was the perfect place to showcase the Christmas
tree. With windows on 3 sides, we could
close any of the blinds at night or open them for anyone outside to see. The windows were almost floor to ceiling. The wooden platform that the Christmas tree sat
on fit perfectly into the bay window area on two saw horses. The platform was then covered with paper that
resembled a brick wall, typical of the paper of those times.
One Christmas
morning was a bit different from the others.
This is the Christmas morning I remember with the most fond
memories. This is the Christmas morning
that I overlooked the presents while dashing down the staircase to find the most
gorgeous train ever under our Christmas tree.
It had a pink engine that puffed
little poofs of smoke! The coal car was
lavender, box cars were yellow and aqua, a passenger car was dark pink, and the
caboose was blue! Perfect pastel colors
for girls. I had never seen anything quite
like this. None of my other girlfriends
had anything like this under their Christmas trees. Wait until they saw this!
Dad let my
sisters and me take turns dropping the
little pill into the engine to ignite the puffs of smoke. Oh, it was just the most fascinating train I
had ever seen, or would ever see again!
I would sit for hours and just watch the most beautifully colored train
run round and round under our Christmas tree – puffing and tooting.
Years later,
after I was married and moved several times during my career, at Christmastime my thoughts returned to my
childhood home and the Lionel Girls Train.
I wondered what had happened to the train set. My folks sold the train set after they sold
their three story home and moved to an apartment after all three daughters
married and moved to their own homes. I
don’t know who bought the train set, but they are very lucky people. I hope they have taken good care of this
exquisite Christmas treasure.
In 1957, the
Lionel train company decided to produce a train set for girls. The original set cost $49.95 so that was
quite a big outlay of cash for my parents at the time. I am
more than grateful that they purchased such a wonderful memory. Today that same train set may be worth
several thousand dollars. That’s
okay. Time and time again, when
Christmas rolls around, nobody can take away the memory of waiting for the
signal to run down the stairs, be surprised at the wonderful train set under
the Christmas tree and remember all the puffs and pastel colors of that
beautiful train set. Those memories are priceless.
