Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Friday, January 1, 2016

Christmas memories

It was December 24, 1948. Christmas Eve at my Grandparents home was being celebrated. All the Aunts, Uncles, cousins, my parents and new little brother were in attendance. Presents were exchanged. Cookies eaten, libations shared. Family gossip was avidly discussed. The family presents for the children were opened.
 
Later, that night,Santa Claus would arrive at our home and more presents would be opened in the morning. . What he might bring was yet to be discovered. The war was not far behind and clothes not toys were still the currency of the time. But now there were exceptions. Troutbirder and his cousin Prudence stand excitedly in front of Grandma's Christmas tree. She, with the doll of her dreams and he with the electric train he always wanted. It was a Lionel O27 gauge. Made of iron and steel and a real whistle, not downsized and made of plastic like today.
In 1948 I had also received a crudely made toy car, which was manufactured of aluminum, no longer needed for bombers.



I still have that car and my train, holding on to them and those memories of long ago.

20 comments:

  1. That locomotive looks very familiar! Well worth keeping and the car too! Your old photo is wonderful:) Happy New Year to you and Mrs T:)

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  2. Oh, how wonderful! I love seeing that train then and now. What great memories you have, TB. :-)

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  3. How wonderful that you held on to those toys. What precious memories.
    Happy New Year to you two.

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  4. You have a nice tie in with your grandparents and Christmas as a small grandchild. Awesome that you kept these gifts.

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  5. So wonderful that you have kept these gifts through the years!

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  6. Memories of innocent times when we all had such hope for the future. Happy New Year!

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  7. What a precious memory and even better that you still have the treasures in hand! Happy new Year TB!

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  8. I would have been two weeks shy of 2yrs old at that time. I had the same Lionel set, same gauge, in '54. I don't have it now, envy you for what you have, and hope you enjoy it.
    cheers, TB
    Mike

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  9. I love your smiles in the old photo, so happy with your Christmas toys. It's wonderful that you still have them to remind you of the memories.

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  10. As I read through the comments I was wondering if anyone would point out that you still have the train and the car but not the hair, but your readers are too polite for that. Good for them. In keeping with the spirit of Christmas I'm not going to mention it either.

    That's a nice post though. I, too, envy you having something like that. It seems incredible, really. I have nothing from my childhood. Of course I moved around, and then went back home once and found that they had moved.

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  11. LOVE the "then" and "now" photos! How wonderful that you still have the treasures from the past!

    Happy New Year!

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  12. Pretty amazing to have saved the toys. I had younger siblings who adopted my toys and they became history.

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  13. That's cool. Wish I still had my O27.

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  14. This is a wonderful story. I remember those Lionel trains well. My husband has his in the basement. We haven't set it up for years. We need to do that again.

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  15. By the way, you haven't changed. You may have gotten a little older, and taller, but you have the same look. These photos are priceless.

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  16. Aren't you the lucky one to still have your car and train. So many yard sales at homes easily let such memories be sold for a song. Enjoy 2016. -- barbara

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  17. My brother's Lionel train was the end of my belief in Santa. My father had so much fun setting it up under the tree that he just had to make it whistle. Woke me up and I caught him and Mom in the act of putting out the presents.

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  18. How wonderful you still have them both. I would have loved to have a train set but we didn't have the room and, besides, such toys weren't considered right for girls back then.

    I agree with Sally that you haven't changed.

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  19. Both pictures are sweet ... you haven't changed that much !

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