Christmas Has Ended for Another Year

And so we begin to take down the decorations, toss away the wrapping paper and bows, and wait another entire year for the fun to return. Try to keep Christmas in your heart and mind throughout the coming year, and it will help to make it through difficult times.

Christmas Day - 2009

The gifts were enjoyed, now the table is set, the food prepared, and we await the arrival of the family. Merry Christmas to all of our extended family, friends and enemies alike.

A White Christmas

Of all the many Christmas traditions, the vision of a "White Christmas" is among the most popular. We are certainly getting one this year, as it's been snowing for over 21 hours now, and with just 6 days until Christmas, most of it will still be around. While certainly not good news for retailers, we can all get a break and spend some quality time at home, so just enjoy it!

The Train under the Christmas Tree

The Tradition of the Train under the Christmas Tree

This historic tradition is a conglomeration of old German ideas uniquely adapted to the New World. It was originally a Roman custom to bring an evergreen bough into the home to bring the family good luck at Winter Solstice. Eventually, as ideas do, it grew into a the tradition of a complete tree. Germans are noted woodcarvers, and eventually began to place small wooden and paper buildings and animals under the tree, representing their villages. Sometimes this would include a small wooden, tin or cast iron train.

Upon immigrating to the New World, they brought the tradition of the Christmas Tree with them. Many German immigrants settled in the Mid-Atlantic region finding it similar to the land back home. The well known song, “Oh! Tannenbaum” or “Oh! Christmas Tree” is the well known tribute to the tradition of the Christmas Tree. Originally, most German Christmas trees were fir trees (Tannenbäume). Over the years, as the percentage of fir trees in German forests dropped, spruce trees (Fichtenbäume) became more prevalent. But today the word Tannenbaum is still synonymous with "Christmas tree."

As we in Maryland know, the music for “Oh! Tannenbaum” served as the base for our state song, “Maryland, My Maryland.”

This tradition continues today, with millions of toy trains running around tiny toy villages around the world, placed under the tree at Christmas time. In America, the name "Lionel" is synonymous with trains under the tree. In England, it is "Hornby", and in Germany "Marklin".

Many of the manufactures of toy trains that are familar to us, are gone. The list of names include: Marx, American Flyer, and LGB. Lesser known names include: Bing, Carlisle & Fitch, Kusan, Karl Bub, Dorfan, Unique Lines, VoltAmp, and Ives.

Whatever may change in the course of time, the tradition of a train under the Christmas tree is a unique one that will remain with us for many years to come.

Purkeys Toy Trains Christmas Garden

For those of you that like to visit Christmas Gardens this time of year, today is our first day that we are running our newly decorated for Christmas toy train layout in the store. You can find us in Historic Sykesville at: purkeystoytrains.com
For those of you that are building your own Christmas Garden, read our helpful guide on our toy trains blog.

Coming up on just 1 Month until the big day!

I see by the old countdown clock on the left that we are getting to enter the last 30 days before Christmas. May of you will be contemplating building some kind of train garden under the tree. We have written a six part guide for building a toy train layout under the tree on another blog dedicated to collecting and running toy trains. It will help anyone from the novice to the experienced builder. You will now to scroll down on the page through a few more recent posts.
Here is the guide.

And So This is Christmas...

...And what have you done? This comes from one of the finest contemporary Christmas songs ever written, by John Lennon, "Happy Christmas (War is Over)". "And So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun".