Thank you, Guyute: this thread is heartwarming: a perfect holiday subject. Admit it, Guyute, you are enjoying all this as much as your 7-year-old son, just as you should. Keep enjoying it, for your son is never going to forget it, and he will love you all the more for this experience. Bigkid's response strikes me as exactly right.
This past Monday, I helped a fellow set up, test, and for the first time run a K-Line SP set he bought from a True Value hardware store. When all was proved to be in fantastic shape, I showed him how to run it, sat back, and watched a 7-year-old with gleaming eyes.
The kicker: he's 45 years old; he bought the train set and stuck it under his bed in each place he lived, first from parents' home to apartments to his own home. That's 45 going on 7. Yes!
