|
|
Christmas in Niles
The
2009 Lighting of the Niles Train Depot
The Historic Niles Amtrak Train
Depot was built in 1892 and is listed on the National Register of
Historic Places. The historic depot has been used in
on-location scenes of at least three movies; "Continental
Divide", starring John Belushi and Blair Brown, "Midnight
Run", starring Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin, and "Only
the Lonely" starring John Candy and Ally Sheedy. It was
the latter of these three which spawned the tradition of adding
Christmas lights and decorations to the station annually.
Mayor McCauslin has routinely given a welcome to all visitors and a
Christmas Message address at the Lighting of the Depot Ceremony.
 Good evening~
For those of you visiting our community for
this annual celebration, we welcome you with holiday cheer.
For those of you lucky enough to live in this great
community, you are already home.
This is my favorite time of year.
The lights, the Christmas music, friends, family, holiday
celebrations, Christmas specials on TV, the tree lighting downtown,
and of course, the holiday tradition we’ve come to know and love,
the lighting of this grand depot.
This is also that special time of year when
children get so excited, we do more for our neighbors and friends,
we become more happy, stressed
out at times perhaps; but
hopefully more generous and kind in our ways.
This is the one time of year when many of us become the
people we wish we could be all year long.
 It is also a time of remembrance, of loved
ones lost, family members in faraway places, children, family, and
the true meaning of Christmas. This
year, like so many before, has been a difficult year for many.
A difficult economy, lost jobs, foreclosures, family and
friends in our armed forces fighting on foreign lands, the list goes
on and on. We could
allow ourselves to only see the negative.
But at this time of year, this holiday and Holy season, we
are hopeful. Hopeful
that next year will be a better one; hopeful that our soldiers will
return safe and sound; hopeful
that the economy will improve; and
hopeful in the future of our families and loved ones.
I have been fortunate to be part of the
depot lighting for many years. In
that time, I have never asked anything of you before.
Tonight I ask. Tonight,
I challenge you to take the true meaning of Christmas to heart.
Tonight, I ask you to do a good deed;
share your good fortune with someone less fortunate; visit an
elderly person in a nursing home; buy a needy child a gift; bake
cookies for your neighbor; send a care package to a soldier;
shovel someone else’s sidewalk; give what you can; search
your closet and donate coats and blankets you can do without; be the
kind of person, the kind of family, the kind of friend and neighbor
you truly want to be.
Photo: Jessica Sieff, Niles Daily Star
Someone
will be better off because of your actions…..you will be too.
During this holiday season, please keep
those who protect us, our soldiers, our police, and our fire
fighters in your thoughts and prayers.
On behalf of the City of Niles and from my
family, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and Godspeed for a safe,
healthy and prosperous New Year.
Merry Christmas and God bless you.
Mayor Michael McCauslin
|
|
