Courtesy Michigan in Pictures with a big assist from Roar of the Tigers...

Holiday Train, photo by StormchaserMike Photography

The holiday season seems to too often become about things that I have no desire to celebrate - busy-ness, consumption and another excuse to fight about the fact that we are a country that is predicated on the acceptance of all religions and lack thereof.

Still, there's a part of me that sat at the top of the stairs, waiting for the report as to whether or not Santa came, one that snuggled in bed with my grandmother listening to the radio announcer tracking that red and white clad superhero of wishes and dreams, who sang carols with my family around the tree on Christmas Eve.

That part wants - with much thanks to Samara and Paws of Roar of the Tigers - to wish all of you a Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa a belatedly Happy Eid al-Adha, a Happy Winter Solstice/Yule and a Happy Winter Season for those who prefer not to celebrate anything.

Be sure to check Mike's Holiday Train out bigger and his whole Holidays slideshow.