How did he do it? How did Santa Claus construct a small railroad in our house the night before Christmas? When we kids got up on Christmas morning, we wanted to race to the sunroom in the back of our house. There we would find around the carefully decorated Christmas tree a small mountain with several trains running through, a little village including a train station, signal tower, water tower, home, church, many people and animals. Some years, the backdrop on the wall behind showed a winter scene, with snow on the ground in the form of cotton covered with some flour and sparkles. Other years, it was a summer scene with green grass and trees and a backdrop of a warm countryside. How did he do it? Or maybe I should have asked, how did they do it?

I'm sure that my Dad did most of it, but I think my mother helped too, perhaps with the painted backdrop which was done on a window shade that could easily be rolled up and used in a future Christmas.

My Dad did things carefully and thoroughly. Every light, ornament and piece of tinsel on the tree was put in a specific place so that it would not touch another.

Each building was hand-crafted and modeled after a familiar one in real life. The church was a copy of the one in which Mom and Pop were married. The house was a miniature of the first home in which they had lived in Baltimore. The train station was modeled after one familiar to them. Dad collected little metal human figures and various animals which were placed in the scene. I know the train tunnel portal was made before I was born because it had the name ROBNOR at the top of it. The name was made up from parts of the names of my two older brothers, Norman and Robert.

Usually Santa was finished by the time we awoke early Christmas morning, but sometimes not. Occasionally, Mom made us wait at the top of the stairs while Santa made a few finishing touches. Because the tree was usually placed in a corner of a room and surrounded by trains, houses and the like, it was not too accessible if bulbs burned out or simply needed tightening. In those days, tree lights were in series--not parallel as they are today. If one bulb burned out or was loose, the whole string went out. In my mind's eye I can see my Dad with a yardstick gently tapping the bulbs of a darkened string to see if a bulb was dead, or just needed tightening.

As I found out later, my Dad had stayed up all Christmas eve and into the wee hours of the morning. There had been no sign of Christmas when we had said our prayers and had gone to bed. But Christmas morning--WOW!!! There was our CHRISTMAS GARDEN, created with care, patience, persistence, hard work and lots of LOVE.

Copyright©Bill Pinschmidt, 1997

Bill Pinschmidt is a former Sena board member and volunteer and is active in Barbershop singing and literacy training.