Tradition Express

When I was younger, we would read the story of The Polar Express while at the extended family's Christmas gathering. There, in front of a roaring fire and nestled in heaps at my uncle's feet, my cousins and I would sit in wonder as he made the words come to life with his rich baritone voice. That tradition has gone by the wayside, but the movie has allowed me to share memories of my childhood in a new way and create a tradition of our own. During the first weekend of December, we don our pajamas, pop the popcorn, make hot cocoa and snuggle in for a family slumber party in the living room, kicked off with the annual viewing of "The Polar Express."

This year we watched "Arthur Christmas" instead, which is fast becoming my favorite Christmas movie of all time.  There is serious competition for that title, because we take our holiday movie watching seriously over here.  There have been actual tears shed this Christmas over the death of our VCR, lack of an affordable thrift store replacement, and thus the elimination of much of our current collection of beloved classics.  I should amend that to "classics" for our family - "Bob the Builder's Christmas" and "The Snowman" are hardly in the "It's a Wonderful Life" or "The Bell's of St Mary's" caliber, but no one here watches things the old black and white movies. Even though I absolutely adore "Arthur Christmas" and its decided lack of creepy elves and spin tingling action meant for a 3D theater screen, I still felt something was missing without the annual viewing of "Polar Express"

So when Snickers begged to have a family pj party, I was 100% on board.  The pigs in a blanket dinner morphed in to plain old hot dogs with mac and cheese, as that I ended up having cavities filled on both sides of my mouth during dinner time. But the dance-a-thon was a success, followed up by a semi cozy viewing of the cinematic delight.  I added in facts about the movie for the older kids, and the younger kids watched it like they had never seen it before - squealing ecstatically when Santa appeared at the end.

I know that my children don't extrapolate upon the true meaning of the "first gift of Christmas." The it represents more than a bell, more than believing in a jolly man who bestows gifts upon children, but rather that, within the story, it represents faith.  How precious a belief in something greater than ourselves, a God greater than ourselves is.  How a benevolent God gave the whole world the greatest gift we would ever receive, because He loves us.  He chose Mary, because of her great faith.

To them it is still just a movie, magical, wonderful, a train that takes them off to dreamland where they too will receive bells. 

Because they believe