1. It's Christmas!
For 30 years, since the debut of both The Snowman and Channel 4, the animation has been shown on the station every Christmas. It has become ingrained as a festive tradition - even though the original Briggs novel wasn't even intended to be about Christmas. When The Snowman is on, you know it is Christmas. This year it is being shown on Christmas Day itself, and no doubt it will be watched across the country by adults for whom it brings back distant memories, and by children falling in love with it for the first time. It is as much a part of Christmas as mince pies, port and Slade. The Snowman is a moment, a festive one, and The Snowman and the Snowdog will be too. I for one, cannot wait.