A Train For Christmas

When I was a little boy, Christmas was really exciting. Sears Roebuck and Company would send toy catalogs out to my mom because she had an account with them. I would spend hours every Christmas looking at every item in the catalog.

The catalog was filled with every kind of toy a boy could think about…guns, balls, wagons, bicycles, cowboy hats, and trains. Boy, did I ever want a train.

The catalog had about ten trains one year. That was the year I decided that I just had to have a train. Some were very big sets and some were very small. I looked carefully at every picture.

I finally chose the perfect train set. It had a sleek looking engine with about 8 cars towed behind. It had a bell, and a whistle, and even a smokestack that had real smoke coming out of it.

I dreamed about that train for weeks. I just knew Santa would bring it. I tried being good as much as a boy could be. I dropped hints to my mom and dad that a train would make this little boy happy.

In my mind, I set the train tracks up to do a circle. Then a figure eight. I would be able to add extra tracks and make the set huge. I would invite all my friends over to see it and we would play. I would get to be the engineer.

Mom and dad never showed even a slight interest in a train. They seemed to not care about whether I got a train or not. That didn’t matter. I even prayed that I would get a train.

Finally, it was the night before Christmas. Our tree had some presents under it. I looked over all the presents. Some had my name on it. I didn’t see any big presents, but I thought maybe the train could fit into a small box. Mom said we were going to open our presents that night.

Mom cooked a big meal that night. It took forever. My aunt was over and she talked a lot. My brother and I had to sit still and visit with her. All I wanted was to get over to the presents and open them. I waited anxiously.

Dad wanted to read the Christmas story from Luke 2. We had to sit quietly while he read to us. Inside, I was full of questions. Was there a train set with my name on it?

At last, we got to hand out the presents. I had a few. I looked for the biggest box in my pile. When it was my turn to open a present, I chose that big one. I ripped the paper off it. Sure enough, it was a train set. I had my train.

I had waited, longed, dreamed, and even played with that train in my mind for weeks. Now I had it. I held the locomotive engine close to me. It was mine. All mine. My dream had come true. I was full of great joy.

Unto me, a train was given.

Now, unto us, a son is given. And his name shall be called Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Thank God for Christmas.