Christmas in July, 2022

e*Train Issue: Jun 2022 | Posted in: Museums Past & Present, TCA Adventures

by John Halajko. TCA# 84-20653

This article is about the Christmas of 2021 and features three neat places that my wife, Joanie, and I visited. These are the newly relocated National Christmas Center, The TCA Museum, and Longwood Gardens. The best of the lot was the National Christmas Center with the TCA Museum a close second. The Longwood Construction Project dampened the view of the nighttime fountain light show. Both Joanie and I were disappointed with the displays being mostly Christmas trees.

As you walk through the rooms you find vignettes of Christmas Past.

Link to National Christmas Center for my December 2021 Expedition

https://link.shutterfly.com/QWXOgkgdCmb

Enjoy the over 200 photos taken approximately in the order of the exhibit routing map above. The Star Barn at Stone Gables will relocate these displays to the first floor of a reconstructed antique barn. The second floor will be all train layouts. Call 717 902 9791 for hours of operation.

For those of us who are fortunate to attend the TCA Keystone Meets, we have memories of interacting with Jim Morrison, Santa Jr. He and his partner collected the Christmas items which became the National Christmas Center.

The TCA Museum, Christmas 2021

Christmas is a Great Time to visit our museum. Enjoy this appetizer. Plan a visit this summer or fall. What will Bob Lubonski and crew do next? Visit the Museum in 2023 to findout.

The O-Gauge Layout with Winter Scene and New Display Buttons

Longwood Gardens in December 2021

link.shutterfly.com/ZzMR48BFanb

Remember to visit the G-Gauge Layout behind the restaurant. If it’s not there, ask where they relocated it. You will find lots and lots of Christmas Trees in the link.

Shop Amazon and Help TCA

TCA members who shop at Amazon.com can have each of their normal purchases generate a modest payment to TCA! And it won’t cost you anything!

The Train Collectors Association is now a participant with AmazonSmile, which is a special website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com.

The difference is that when customers shop at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

The process is simple. Just search for and select Train Collectors Association when you sign up and shop at smile.amazon.com.

You use your regular Amazon.com username and password, but when you log in to smile.amazon.com, you’ll see that you are supporting TCA with your purchases:

Note that if you just log in to the regular amazon.com, this benefit does not operate.

There are no costs to either you or TCA, but TCA benefits!

This is a great way for TCA to earn extra cash to offset costs, so sign up today to help support TCA.

* Note: TCA is not a party to any of your Amazon transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors.

Helping TCA with your ebay purchases when you use PayPal

If you’re an ebay user and have a PayPal account you use to make payments, you can designate a donation for TCA when you’re checking out — any amount, small or large.
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can pre-designate a percentage of your sales to be donated automatically in your name to TCA as long as the purchaser pays with their PayPal account.

In both cases, you will receive a donation receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund, and enjoy applicable tax advantages.

How to do it:

Click on the image above, or use this link. This will take you to ebay, where you will see the following page (log in to ebay if you are not already):

This offers TCA as an option. Click on the “Add to My Charities” button where indicated with the red arrow. Thereafter, when you make a purchase, at checkout you will be offered the option to make a donation to TCA in any amount of your choosing. Small amounts add up, larger ones are great! It’s always up to you!

The option will appear at the lower part of your checkout page, something like this:

If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can allocate a portion of your sales proceeds to be donated to TCA. Look at the green arrow marked “Optional” above to see how to do it. Details on how ebay calculates the donation may be read here. This is a wonderful way to share the financial benefits of your hobby with the organization that promotes it!

An added benefit to TCA is that these donations are not subject to normal processing fees, so that makes your donation work harder!

* Note. TCA is not a party to any of your eBay transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors. PayPal issues the receipts to you for your donation, not TCA.

Christmas in July, 2022

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