As a kid, Christmas was by far my favourite time of the year. My family — myself, mum, dad and two brothers — and all the uncles, aunts and cousins, would all head to my grandparents’ small farm near the Welsh border, just outside of Gobowen. Like most people at the time, we weren’t exactly rich, but that really didn’t matter. We made do with what we had, and we had plenty as a family.

My grandmother and other ladies in the family would cook up a storm, and it was the only time of the year that my mother would bake. I can’t remember eating my mother’s homemade cookies at any other time of the year, ever! My brothers and I would spend as much time as we could exploring nearby woods and lakes, returning to the farmhouse only when we couldn’t stand the cold any longer.

Looking back at this as an adult with children of my own, I realised that it wasn’t Santa, the presents or anything else you can touch that made Christmas time special; it was spending the festive season with festive people.

While the farm isn’t in the family anymore and uncles, aunts and cousins are distributed all over the globe, my wife and I continue the tradition of trying to make each Christmas as special as possible with our own traditions and festivities, for both ourselves and our two boys, now at the age I remember so fondly.

One of their favourite Christmas traditions (and admittedly mine as well!) is dragging our mattresses into the living room, making a giant pot of hot chocolate and keeping it warm on the stove, and —most importantly— having the whole family dress up in our pyjamas for the entire day.

This started 3 years ago when my eldest was four years old and the youngest about a year. We were watching The Polar Express when he suggested we all change into our pyjamas like the characters in the movie. This was probably the best idea any 4-year-old has ever had, and this tradition has now extended beyond just a Christmas day activity. As a family, we now spend most of the festive season in our pyjamas, even going as far as asking our friends and family to bring theirs when visiting us. The adults love it, and the kids can’t get enough of seeing us go about our adult ways in pyjamas.

In a big way, the Polar Express has changed how we celebrate Christmas as a family. Every year our kids look forward to watching this amazing Christmas movie and enjoy all that it’s meant for us. We wear the pyjamas, we drink the hot chocolate and we sing the songs. We share the characters’ fears, and celebrate their triumphs; and just like Hero Boy, the Polar Express reminds us of the magic of Christmas, year after year.

The Polar Express has had such a big impact on me and my family, that it inspired me to write this blog. It’s done for my children what that farmhouse did for me, giving the family something to look forward to every year.  I love this movie for the traditions it created, the inspirational storyline, the beautiful and groundbreaking production, and the heartwarming characters.

… And for giving me a good reason to wear nothing but pyjamas for days on end…

Thanks for reading, Ross B.