All aboard! Mount Pleasant family shares Christmas model train tradition

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) — The whistling sound and twinkling lights of a model train have filled the DeMent family’s Mount Pleasant home each holiday season for decades.

“My dad had this train set that he would set up in the living room every year,” said Kyle DeMent.

After Kyle’s son Elijah was born, Kyle said his father asked if he wanted to take over the tradition.

“I said: ‘Yeah, great. Sounds awesome,'” he recalled. “And it went from being something that we just kind of set up around the tree every Christmas to we started adding pieces and houses to it, and it just grew and grew every year.”

Kyle said assembling the train set each year has become meditative for him, and the DeMents invite their neighbors to come and see the finished product.

“Nothing has made me happier over the last couple of years than when [a] five-year-old boy has kind of sat there and lights kind of glow on their face and they’re just smiling, and you see the parents smiling at the child,” said Jamie DeMent. “Sometimes the people that are beaming just as much as that five-year-old child is the 40-year-old dad who members the same moment from when he was a kid.”

“I think there’s a lot of nostalgia to these train sets and the kind of world of make-believe as well,” she continued. “It’s been so much fun for us to have something that can bring people together and bring a little bit of extra joy to sometimes a little bit of a crazy, crazy time in our lives.”

Kyle and Jamie met at Clemon University in 2003, sang songs to each other, and started family traditions like marriage, children, and model trains at Christmas.

“My wife and I both dearly love this season [and] just how much joy it brings to us as a family,” Kyle said. “We love being able to experience this with our son, and we love that it means that much to him too.”

The train transports viewers to a magical winter wonderland as it winds through ice-skating rinks, chalets, and more with its signature chug.

“I love the fact that I get to see my husband and my son just bring so much joy to each other and others by putting this train together,” Jamie added. “Bringing in tradition and family has been a huge part of Christmas and why it’s so special to us, and I think the train has been able to take our love of all those things and bring that to more friends and family.”

The couple hopes their son will take over the tradition one day.