You might be sitting at home right now, wondering if this will be the year you finally visit the Holiday Train Show. We know what you’re thinking, too: “It’s just for keeping the kids busy,” or “What’s the point in going if I don’t have relatives to bring along?” But we understand that not everyone’s out to snap family photos in matching holiday sweaters and Santa hats. Regardless of how old (or young) you are, or whether you’re a tourist (or a native), The New York Botanical Garden has something worth seeing this holiday season.

Our Holiday Train Show is the perfect chance for everyone to get out and make new memories.
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Kathie Miranda is the coordinator of the Botanical Art and Illustration program here at The New York Botanical Garden. She is a natural science illustration educator and artist, teaching and exhibiting nationwide.

Prayer Plant, © Kathie Miranda

During the recent American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) Conference, our very own Kathie Miranda was honored as the first-ever recipient of the ASBA Anne Marie Carney Award. The honor was given in recognition of outstanding work in an exhibition for Kathie’s colored pencil on Mylar painting, entitled Prayer Plant.

The family of talented artist and ASBA member Anne Marie Carney has created an endowment fund to award one upcoming botanical artist annually, a proposed tradition which has garnered enough donation funding to support it for the next 36 years. For the inaugural ceremony in Boston on October 29, a team of three jurors selected the artwork for the award.
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“And so, with a slight hesitation, I turned over my trusty Canon to the tiny hands of my nephew.”

From now until December 17, our visitors will be sharing their fondest memories from 20 years of the Holiday Train Show–some of them touching, some comical, and every one of them cherished. Come back to Plant Talk each day for a new story, which you can see after the jump along with a feature on one of the many replica New York City landmarks on display in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory–the Guggenheim Museum, Yankee Stadium, the Empire State Building and more.

As a bonus, read on to find out how you can win a Family Four-Pack of Holiday Train Show tickets for yourself!
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It might take you a few seconds to figure out what’s going on in this picture. It’s okay–it took me a little while, too. Can you make out the piece of the puzzle that gives it away?

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen