Alone on Christmas Day? 10 movies to watch plus their perfect snack pairings

The Polar Express serves hot chocolate, so indulge

While The Polar Express is often viewed as a children’s movie, it’s also a movie about the power of believing. The ability to let go of the inclination to disbelieve that which we cannot see is strengthened by the format of The Polar Express.

Fans of Who Framed Roger Robert may notice that something looks familiar. Roger Ebert points out that Zemeckis achieved a somewhat similar look in Polar Express by blending live action and animation (in contrast, Who Framed Roger Rabbit juxtaposed rather than merged the two).

The result is a dream-like feeling that perfectly supports the theme of the story. Let yourself join the characters (Tom Hanks was executive producer and also provided some of the performances) as a conductor urges a young boy to hop aboard a train.

This lad is definitely not a believer in Santa Claus at this point. So will he be persuaded to climb on board the Polar Express, which takes skeptical youngsters like him to the North Pole to convince them to believe? Fortunately for us, the boy takes the Polar Express and meets characters such as a sad lonely boy, a heroic girl, and an annoyingly smart kid.

But it’s the small touches that make the Polar Express worth your time on your solo Christmas. Hot chocolate is served with a musical number, and the elves are definitely not like Buddy from Elf.

While we’re not suggesting that you find some waiters to sing and dance and serve you hot chocolate on Christmas Day, we do recommend the very best hot cocoa to accompany this film. Top it with whipped cream and one perfect marshmallow.