Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

[eZAK]

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all!

Thank you all for your help and laughter through out the past year & I'll look foward to another fun year of model railroading and forum conversations!

[wrmcclellan]

I agree. I also wish a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you on the forum!

Looking forward to another year of fun and fellowship!

Regards,
Roy

[prewardude]

[#ditto]

Back at you, guys! As far as I'm concerned, this has turned into the best forum on the 'Net.

Merry Christmas to all!

(Why is the word "Ditto" misspelled on the little emoticon guy's sign?)

[Anonymous]

I wish all of my great friends here on the forum a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for all the great times we've had on here! I look forward to the fun we'll have in the future! May you all unwrap some great toy trains from under the tree on Saturday!

[ChiefEagles]

Same to all of the folsk here. It has been a great year meeting new friends [including those from OHIO]. I hope the new year will bring us more friends on here. May all your trains run great adn no wrecks. God bless all.

[spankybird]

We were going to waite until Christmas day, but as long as the thread is started



From our family to yours.

God Bless All

Tom, Luisa (wife), Ryan (daughter), Spanky (bird), and dogs

[eZAK]

Great graphics Tom!

[cnw1995]

Feliz Navidad - thank you all for your fellowship, invaluable guidance and profound advice.

[daan]

MERRY CHRISTMAS and happy holidays to all friends on the other side on the globe..
It was a nice year, and you gave me great help (specially on the rheostat thing).
I'll roll into next year driving the trains instead of waiting 'till the transformer cooled down for another round on the track..

Hope to have the package with my sd28 in time for the christmas tree..and hope that all you guys have a nice christmas traingift under the tree too!!

Cheers!

[flyingyankee616]

[^] Merry Christmas to everyone out there. I also want everyone to know how much I appreciate being on this forum,and the thoughtfullness everyone shares with each other. Thankyou

[brianel027]

To share joy, reflect and to give thanks: there's 3 elements of Christmas. It's been a rough year economy-wise in my neck of the forrest. Still more announcements of job losses... this past month alone close to 1,100 have now joined the ranks of the jobless. Everyone is feeling this... the Salvation Army here is ten's of thousands of dollars behind their goal. All local charities have taken a very hard hit. When folks are aren't working, they aren't spending. But when money is tight and hard times are everywhere, the spirit of Lord can come knocking for those who open that door. And giving can become something far greater than whipping out the charge card.

For me, and I know for many others in my area, this Christmas is going to be about much more than pushing up sales figures at the local mall or having gobs of expensive gifts below the tree. Which when one stops to think about it has much more to do with this holiday than how much debt can you add up on your credit card.

Months ago there was a thread titled "Trains and Jesus" which unfortunately was deleted. There are certain words that us so-called modern, intellectual, self-thinkng people don't want to hear: Sin is one of those words. The other one is the Jesus Christ, which is - like it or not - what the Christmas holiday is really about.

Again, months ago I was in the heat of despair and many of you guys came through with nothing more than kind words of support and concern. Some like Chief even did more - God bless you Chief, I haven't forgotten! The Christmas spirit for me was exhibited in all its glory at that time when I was actually flooded at one point with emails from you train guys... that was Christmas spirit!

Now I'm firmly connected with a church here, The Christian Hope Center. I don't have much more than time to give and so that's what I do give and give with joy. And in turn I have seen some kindness come out from the people in this church that I seldom see elsewhere. Christmas isn't really about the mega-gift buying money driven extravaganza that it has become. Though it is about charity and giving, which of course was the message of the man whose earthly arrival we supposedly are celebrating on Christmas.

Yep, I too sure do connect Lionel Trains with Christmas though. I got my first set when I was only days old. My dad couldn't even wait the few more weeks until that first Christmas for me... so why wouln't I think of Lionel Trains with this holiday. A big difference for me now, is that I give thanks to God for allowing me to have this little foolish diversion; this hobby that could very well be the focus of my life, but isn't anymore. These trains are truly wonderful... this is a wonderful hobby and tradition for a family to start at this time of year. But Lionel Trains (and the others) won't save your soul.

This forum is obviously a place to talk trains. No arguement here - It's been a wonderful diversion and distraction for me this past year in light of other problems. But this holiday is here because of the birth of Jesus Christ. I would hope and pray that the sheer mention of the Lord's name here doesn't qualify this thread for the deletion door.

I also acknowledge that I have probably annoyed a train guy or two here with my unbriddled passsion for seeing more kids in the hobby. If it wasn't own personal experiences in this arena and seeing the smiles of joy on kids faces, I might not feel so strong on it. Those smiles I see take me back years and years to what I may have looked like as a young boy gazing with delight at the Sear's Lionel Holiday Display Layout.

It's great when you bring these trains into your home and see the joy and fun that they can bring. But there's also another reality: the reality of business. We all here know the joy of running the trains on our layouts. But in the board rooms of Lionel, MTH, K-Line and others, joy is probably not the first topic of discussion... money, the bottom line and profits probably are. I wonder how many of the folks working at and for the various train companies actually run and operate trains? Maybe things would be different if they knew what we know. Then again, given hard reality, maybe they wouldn't.

So in the true spirit of the holiday, I too wish all who read here a joyous holiday in the same true spirit of what the holiday is really about. Merry Christmas! [^]

[Anonymous]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!! May the coming year be one where all forumites will play nicely together.[:D]

[Anonymous]

MERRY CHRISTMAS every body .hope im back my computer is a mess ,think it's okay now . I have scratchbuilt three more strutures hope to show them soon .

[mcattardo]

Merry Christmas everyone.

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[Anonymous]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!


pax[C):-)]

[nitroboy]

Merry Christmas to all, can't wait for another fun year of train talk!!!

[locomutt]

M E R R Y

C H R I S T M A S

T O

A L L

From locomutt & Cherokee Woman
(Walt & Paula;usually on Trains)

[Anonymous]

Howdy!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I can't tell you all how much I have enjoyed getting back into O gauge trains this past year. The information that you all provide is "priceless" and I look forward to learning more in 2005.
Have a safe holiday.
Bob