December 25, 2011. When I was eight, Christmas was all about my electric trains. They’re long gone. So now I visit these.

At the New York Botanical Garden. Cool holiday tradition here in town. The kids watch the trains. The adults examine the setting. Replicas of New York landmarks made from plant parts. Nuts, bark, leaves. They’re amazing. Rustic, detailed models of Yankee Stadium, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building. You walk under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Theirs is way bigger and better than mine. But they both do the same thing. They suck you right into their own little world. And away from everything else. Everything else goes silent and invisible. The wheels on the tracks, the toy whistles and bells. That’s all your hear. The tiny city is the only one you see.

Everything else is out of sight. Out of mind. No homework. No email. No cell phone. No TV. You get to pay attention to just one thing at a time.

Merry Christmas

The Video of Christmas Past
If you really came for the Yule log in the fire place, just snap your fingers and click. Still burning for you.