The Polar Express: The Magic is in the Moment

If there is one word we used most to describe The Polar Express, it’s magical. Just typing that makes me smile because the film is just that. I mean, just watch this clip of the films Hot Chocolate song. It’s nothing short of pure magical joy!

I guess that’s why the film has become a Christmas family classic. It’s filled with moments just like the Hot Chocolate scene. For me the film was made even more special, even more magical. For this episode of the podcast I got to share it with my 7-year-old daughter Evie. She was pretty nervous to start with but as the episode went along her gorgeous little character began to pop out for all to hear.

Now they say you should never work with kids or animals and there are moments in this episode where you’d be forgiven for asking why on Earth would we have a 7-year-old on the podcast, especially when each episode goes for 90-120 minutes. No kid has that sort of attention span! But the adventure made the episode even more fun and even more special. To me sharing moments with my family are most important to me. We want to be present to celebrate the good and the bad times with one another and therefore it was a no brainer when Evie asked if one day she might be on the podcast to then make that a reality.

I say it every episode, but I just love doing this podcast. It seriously brings me so much joy and it’s also become such a huge part of my life. You can’t escape it at home and that’s not a negative, we all discuss it and analyse it. Writing that I’m realising just how fortunate I am to have a family that are invested just as I am. But it’s in these moments that I find most magical, the moments when together we identify a potential problem and great alternatives are given.

As cheesy as it sounds, I guess when you really look at it, there is magic to be found in every moment. For me I got to share something I am incredibly passionate about with someone I’m incredibly passionate about and The Polar Express episode and film will forever be something special because of that. As for Evie girl, I could never have predicted how important and special being on the podcast was going to be for her as well. In the days following she told everyone and anyone about being on her Dad’s podcast. She listened to her episode multiple times, repeating her favourite jokes and critiquing her efforts, for the record she really wishes that she’d sung Yellow Submarine when we talked about Zemeckis’s attempted motion capture version of The Beatles classic. It could possibly be as important to Evie as it was to me.

So I guess my encouragement is to share moments with those you love and include them on your journey. Together the moments will be even more magical than you might expect.

Big Love, Yeah

Geoff