The Royce Files

  Lionel Trains have appeared in numerous TV programs and movies. Usually these are of the 3 rail O scale variety. Let's look at an often overlooked Lionel product line that received some air time in classic movie. Having cornered the market for O-scale 3 rail trains (or at leasting thinking they did), in 1987 Lionel decided to step into the G-scale train business by creating a line of trains and accessories called Lionel Large Scale. They were not quite typical G-scale proportions like G-scale manufacturer LGB (which I think was something around 1:22.5). Lionel Large Scale was somewhere between 1:24 and 1:29. A bit fuzzy on size compared to prototypes but they still ran on the common G-guage 2 rail track using DC power.  Lionel never seemed to be too serious about the G-scale market. They put out a few new sets every other year and had a few accessories.  By the mid 1990s the line was floundering despite the addition of an Atlantic engine and GP-9. They even released an ...

Went to the ever popular Concordia Christmas concert this weekend. Great music from choirs and orchestra, scriptures interspersed with strange liturgical tomes. I might even be on public TV for ages to come if the cameras swung past my visage. This year is the 90th year of concerts. I have attended 2 previous to this year. These concerts have the heft of high church tradition and evoke the mystery of the Christmas season- how an Almighty God came to rescue his creation. There are a myriad of facets to that plan. Thematically this year's concert strived to look at community and peace. Very relevant topics considering the recent political cycle in the US. According to the scriptures, the birth of Jesus brought shepherds and some type of foreign ambassadors (my take on magi) together although not at the same time. Missing from this assembled "community"- the religious leaders and political ruler of the land. Religious leaders identified the prophecy of the Christ ( Mic...

Post Yuletide Greetings or if you are reading this months after it was posted- Hi. So this year Star Wars made a major move into Christmastide vernacular- or to put it another way there was a whole lot more Merry Star Wars Christmasy stuff going on. Big movie releases at Christmas and merch centered around kids can do that. The Star Wars space opera permeates the US culture and you do not need me to tell you that. I can count on a single hand the people who have not seen any Star Wars movie. Star Wars and Christmas- sort of an odd couple. Both have big story lines that combine family, friendship and redemption. Star Wars has lasers and light sabers but Christmas has an actual star.  Star Wars did get a late jump on Christmas merchandising from the start. Although the movie arrived in theaters in May of 1977 a campy 98 minute Christmas special landed on the small screen in November the following year. It is filled with 1970s variety show cliches with a few Star Wars ...

It not being Christmas at the writing of this entry-- let's write about Christmas! It seems every few years or so a new thing gets flung into the pantheon of Christmas.  A few years ago it was penguins. Nothing to do with the festive period except that for some that period happens during the beginning of the cold blustery period. Cute but hardly relate-able to the larger Christmas themes of peace, goodwill toward man, and Jesus. Penguins just happened to drop on the popular culture scene in a few movies and decided to settle in at the Christmas Inn next door to the reindeer, elves, Santa, gingerbread men, wise men, stars, poinsettias, and pickles. A nd yes, the pickle has official status as a Christmas symbol. Not sure why pickled herring is not. But lest you think I will gripe about this proverbial overcrowded Inn of Christmas, I will not. Instead I will introduce another symbol of Christmas that made its entrance this season. The robot discovered  While strolling ...

Happy Christmas No pickles on this tree- at least I did not find any. But there were oranges- clementines to be exact. They were not on the tree buy beneath it. It is actual a tradition Grandma Marlys has kept up from her youth. It recalls the gift of an orange she would receive each Christmas. I think she would also get a tin cup.

A  Charlie Brown Christmas espouses that dilemma which many of us may find ourselves in at Christmas time. Exasperated by the holiday and the wacko views of it (ie. Run by a big eastern syndicate.) he blurts out: Isn't there anyone who understands what Christmas is all about? To which Linus recites the ancient narrative. And, yes that is what Christmas is all about. Everything else is just an extension. Although some extensions have traversed well off the main narrative. I have no clue where to place the Elf on a Shelf story that has become so popular. And the pickle Christmas ornament thing is a bit off the wall. Anyway, here is the narrative pieced together from the Bible.

Shopping will continue to be a part of this festive time of year until....well until money and stores and desires cease to be. So not tomorrow or the next day. Christmas shopping can be a stressful holiday tradition because literally everybody does it. And this year there was more of it because of the early US Thanksgiving. I have tried to do most of my shopping online but I do run out of time and end up at the stores on Christmas Eve poring over merchandise, speculating what will be the best gift. I suspect the the Magi who visited the infant Jesus did not have the same dilemmas we do with Christmas shopping. There must have been an unwritten custom on how to give gifts to someone important. Gold and myrhh and francescence are not traditional given in these times. Ipods, Ipads, and Kindles seem to be all the rage. What would I get someone important? I would put much thought into it and look at potential items online and at store...

Well, the holidays have a way of sneaking up on you and trying to pull you into the pit that is not the holiday itself but the Bizzaro holiday world. You know what I mean- the stress inducing things, the unrest, the traffic, the crowds. Really if somebody was searching for holiday cheer they'd be totally missing it. But today I bring you the thing I like about Christmas- the music. Sure you get sick of it after a while. Some of it is like Skittles- I can't eat too many of those before all fruitiness is ruined for weeks. Here's some songs I enjoyed this holiday season: Josh Wilson's "Noel" or "Jesus is Alive" Josh is a multi-instrumentalist but this arrangement on piano is simple but elegant. The song does speak to the reason I celebrate this time of year- the birth of Christ. Josh please come to Fargo Next a gem from Bebo Norman I unearthed. Released back in  2008, I have only heard this tune once on the radio. And I have only foun...

My brother in law made this incredible Christmas cake. It was big! It was good. 2 layers with some strawberries in the middle. I still have a part of it.

It might be Boxing Day or St. Stephen's Day but in other parts of the world the Christmastide continues onward until Epiphany on January 6th. In Ireland, the Wren Boys might come out on December 26 in costume and sing and ask for small donations for the "Wren Dance." Not sure how prevalent it still is in Ireland. Sounds fun to me. Here the snow lays heavy upon the ground. The wind whips it up in a fury making for dangerous yet awe inspiring landscape. 

God rest you merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay. For Jesus Christ our Savior, Was born on Christmas Day; To save us all from Satan’s power, When we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ our Savior Was born on Christmas day  More on this older carol and how merry might not be about revelry is found here and here . It certainly has joyful meter and is rather bright and cheery as opposed to some other carols speaking of the same theme. This one is certainly a song to be sung by carolers seeking the wassail. I think I will make wassail this year.

Happy Christmas everybody. For some it is the most wonderful time of the year and for others the most stressful. Then there are others who just don't care. But we'll let them be that way. It can be like the Frank Capra film It's A Wonderful Life- life events and circumstances can dictate who we are, what we are worth until we just want to escape the pressures that life presents. It was fortunate that George did have Clarence- somebody who can look from the outside. Without the whole bridge and "George never existed" scenes, it would we a sad, sad film. So what am I getting at? We are not living for ourselves. Just at its simplest Christmastime invites goodwill and peace to break out at least once a year. That's the magic of Christmas and how even if ones do not recognize the bigger thing which Christmas commemorates (Christ coming to the earth to die in order to free us.), it harmonizes and even points subtly to it. We just overlook it either because we...

Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. You've probably heard this dozens of times if you watch Charlie Brown Christmas. Linus takes the spotlight and tells Charlie Brown (and everyone else) what Christmas is all about. I have seen it 3 times this year and it doesn't get boring. Hulu is still streaming it until the end of the year.  A Charlie Brown Christmas is short and to the point and doesn't follow too many rabbit trails. Short summary- Charlie Brown is stressed by Christmas. He seeks help which send him in a different direction. Linus sets it straight (or should we credit the King James Bible?) and Charlie Brown changes his viewpoint. I like how Schulz was already contrasting the befuddled Charlie Brown with the "give me" attitude of some of the other characters- something that still rings true today about our celebration...

We've been on an ugly kick here this last year (remember ugly online ads) so it makes sense to look for the ugly Christmas sweaters. Think Bill Cosby getting run over by a reindeer and a dozen elves and throw in a random snowman. Actually these are rather quaint-snowflakes and stars. The one below I actually own and has appeared on the blog before. I got it for only a buck last year! So perhaps these don't fall into the ugly category, but you can make your own and send them to me- http://www.thisisgrow.com/archive/officemax/myholidaysweater/955279d6.74941  

Well it has finally arrived- Christmas 2009. It's been a busy run up for myself with the Radio Show fitted in with a talent show for work. I was just able to fit in a little caroling on Sunday which was a highlight for the season. I had not sung in chorus for years. As I have written before I especially enjoy the music of Christmas. I was the only male voice so I had a lot riding on my blending and harmonization. We did good. As I have pondered this holiday, I realize it tends to be about remembering. Remembering Christmases past and stuff. And even if the holiday was co-opted from previous celebrations at the start of winter, it certainly does fit the imagery of the old story. Yet, the imagery has certainly taken the driving wheel in this day so much so that it's lights, feasts, Santas, trees, gifts, and holly. The sacred has been watered down to be more pallible to those who consciously or unconsciously rather not remember the birth of Jesus. It can be a rare sight these day...

Epiphany marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas. No drummers drummed up to my home or is that leaping Lords? Either way it didn't go. I am satisfied. Now we enter into that wonderful period I christen the Presidential Honeymoon Period. I hope the gift giving continues .

I find myself in St. Cloud this morning. I decided not to take a long jaunt home after I got an extremely late start (8:45 PM). I stayed at a Travelodge in St. Cloud . It was small but quaint. It had a flat panel TV and wireless internet plus a little breakfast. Overall, it was a good stay and Priceline certainly helped me get a bargain. William Shatner you are the best! As a special Christmas treat I've got a link to a Jack Benny Christmas radio show which you can download or listen to online. The Jack Benny programs are gems of the Golden Age of Radio and the Christmas programs are especially memorable. For a number of years they kept doing a Christmas shopping routine where Jack (who has a reputation for being cheap and miserly) would buy a gift for his annoucer Phil only to constantly need to change something about it thereby driving the clerk mad. In this program Jack is Christmas shopping for shoelaces for Phil.

Here we are again On the cusp of December's end 2008 went by in a flash Yet a few words I will dash To send greetings and merriment your way For this fine Christmas Day And let one not forget It is better to give than to get Yet even better still, a son came for prophecy to fufill To beget life which we could not have And to point us to the narrow path So may this day bring you much mirth As we together remember Jesus' Birth Merry Christmas everybody. are you good?

I t's the third day of Christmas and we are still without snow. Why do we need snow for Christmas? Phil would have a good answer but unfortunately he is out doing other things (i.e. drinking more beer). I will proffer an explanation- it's cultural and western centric idea. Most of the nations that celebrate Christmas as extravagant as us are in the Northern Hemisphere. It usually snows during the period when Christmas comes. Our Southern Hemisphere counterparts must suffice with dreaming about white Christmas since it is highly improbably that the Almighty would bless them with snow in Hawaii or Australia or India. Not that snow does not exist in those places somewhere. Probably in moutainous terrain there is plenty of snow in the Southern Hemisphere. So Christmas revelers head to the mountains to get in the mood for Christmas. Maybe Go Tell It On the Mountain is a more popular Christmas tune down there.

It seems that light must be the theme for Christmas this year. I attended two church meetings and light happened to be the subject. Jimmy Mac at the Hill gets the kudos for incorporating the Irish monolith into a sermon. I thought it was kind of ironic since I was just writing about that the other day. However, what Jim pointed out that the people of those days were fearful because the sun kept getting lower in the sky. They probably built these structures in an attempt to save the light. The contrast of course is that Jesus came into the world to bring hope and defeat fear. No longer had they to fear the sun fading away. Go so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever trusts in him would have life eternal. Jesus came as the light of the world- to illuminate the souls of humankind to recognize God. Have a happy and blessed Christmas.