The Polar Express

I have four words for everyone today: Go see this movie!

My husband and I caught the first showing of the movie this morning. Early Monday seems to be a great time to catch a movie, if you can-- no lines, no crowds, easy parking. But-- the movie... fantastic! One of the best Christmas movies to come along in quite some time. We like to see anything that Tom Hanks is connected to, and The Polar Express is just outstanding. I've seen the book that it was adapted from, and I plan to buy that and add it to my collection of Christmas books.

We sat there this morning laughing out loud, holding our breath, and then crying and wiping our eyes with tissues. You will go through every emotion possible during this film. Oprah had featured it on one of her recent shows, and said the movie called for a box of tissues. So I was prepared.

The on-going theme of this film is the simple word "Believe." Which I didn't realize till we saw the movie this morning. The invitations I picked out for our Christmas party have the same theme. On the front of the invitation card, there's a pretty cup and saucer that is filled with steaming hot chocolate and topped with whipped cream. Painted on the cup is Santa and his reindeer-powered sleigh. The reindeer are prancing through a star-filled midnight sky. On the saucer underneath the cup, there are twinkling stars, and the word "Believe" is written in blue letters. When my friend A and I saw the cards in a bookstore, I knew right away that those were the perfect invitations for our Christmas party.

The Polar Express is literally a train on its way to the North Pole. During the ride north, you can hear the whistle of the train. I don't know about you, but I love the sound of a train whistle. We have a train here that crosses Highway 3 several times a day. On very quiet, still mornings and evenings, we can hear the whistle of that train if we're sitting on the screen-porch. Wonderful sound: adventurous and poignant at the same time.

This afternoon, as we were driving away from the movie theatre on our way to Hot Wok for lunch, my husband stopped the car at a red light on NASA Road One. We sat there talking about the movie, and all of a sudden, my husband clicked the button to roll down the front windows. Clear as a bell, we both heard the train whistle from Highway 3. We looked at one another and burst out laughing and crying. Totally unbelievable timing for that train whistle! We were still shaking our heads over that when we got to the restaurant. And no doubt that we heard it, honestly.

After lunch, as we drove on the roads near the Johnson Space Center, we saw six deer grazing on the grass near the road. There are always groups of deer around the Space Center, but usually they stay inside the fences there. Today's deer were right outside the fence. Guess they found a way to get out, and I hope the day doesn't have a sad ending for them. There were four adults and two very young ones, and I'm hoping they find their way back into the protective fence.

No matter how happy the holidays are, this time of the year is also an emotional time. Holidays not only make new memories, but they bring back a lot of old memories. This will be our first Christmas since my husband's mom passed away. I thought of her a lot during the movie this morning, which was why I cried so much. I miss her every day, even though I really believe she is in this house and around us all the time.

She believed that no matter what happens in this world, no matter how bad you think it is, life does go on in a sensible way. That's what she truly believed. And that's what I try to remember every day.