AROUND TOWN

Pulling into Edinburgh’s Waverley station this festive season is The Polar Express Train Ride (until Friday 22 December), a magical, immersive experience based on the popular 2004 film. Grab your pjs and dressing gown and climb aboard!

Promising Santas as far as the eye can see Glasgow Santa Dash 2023 (Sunday 10 December) is a 5k fun run which sees thousands of Santas take to the streets. The Lord Provost’s Charity Fund and The Beatson Cancer Charity are the charities benefiting this year.

Over at Beecraigs Country Park they’ve gotten pretty darn Christmassy themselves with a Festive Forest offering an abundance of fun, including an illuminated trail, Santa’s grotto and storytelling experience, silent disco, carol singers, funfair rides and more.

MUSIC

Mercury Prize nominated for their 2017 debut, Love In The 4th Dimension, English indie rockers The Big Moon (Saturday 9 December) have toured internationally and supported the legendary Pixies. Check them out when they swing by Glasgow’s SWG3.

There’s nothing more Christmassy than classical music in a candlelit setting and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons At Christmas (Saturday 9 December) certainly delivers on that. St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, plays host.

Scotland’s biggest night of traditional music, Hoolie In The Hydro (Saturday 9 December) is back at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, with a line-up featuring some of the scene’s biggest names, including Mànran, Wolfstone, Trail West and Nati Dreddd.

STAGE

Puppetry, performance and play come together in Ginger (until Saturday 16 December), a show about a misshapen gingerbread person from Tortoise In A Nutshell. Catch this biscuity hero at Glasgow’s Tramway.

If old-school pantomime pizzazz is more your scene then the King’s Theatre, Glasgow is playing host to one of the fairest of them all, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (until Sunday 7 January).

For those looking for a break from the Christmas onslaught then Same Team – A Street Soccer Story (until Saturday 23 December) at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre should hit the back of the net. It follows five women who dream of lifting the Homeless World Cup.

SCREEN

A perfectly delightful seasonal confection, Wonka is the charming origin story of chocolatier Willy Wonka. Timothée Chalamet gives a buoyant performance in the lead, beautifully supported by a dastardly Olivia Colman and a miniature Hugh Grant.

Told in two fascinating features and from multiple perspectives, Laura Citarella’s Trenque Lauquen is a rich and absorbing film which knits together mysteries and timelines as our heroine (played by co-writer Laura Paredes) pieces together the puzzle of a missing woman, before disappearing herself.

An impressive cast assemble for apocalyptic thriller Leave The World Behind, from Mr Robot’s Sam Esmail. Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke and Industry’s Myha’la grapple with societal collapse. Watch it on Netflix from Friday.

PODCASTS

The latest in the ‘Rest Is’ family of podcasts is The Rest Is Entertainment. It brings together ace Guardian journo Marina Hyde and quiz master/king of cosy murder mysteries Richard Osman for a look at what’s hot and not in the weird world of celebs.

In Intrigue: Million Dollar Lover Sue Mitchell delves into the dangerous flip-side of the American dream, as she looks at the relationship between an ex homeless man and a rich widow and the fallout that results from it.

Presented by Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward, the science and psychology of the seven deadly sins is under the microscope in the fascinating and funny podcast Seven Deadly Psychologies. Starting with pride, the pair explore why we experience these often ugly emotions, and what’s going on in the brain and body when we feel them.

VISUAL ART

 In Michelle Williams Gamaker: Our Mountains Are Painted On Glass (Saturday 9 December – Sunday 24 March) the British-Sri Lankan artist draws on and celebrates the classic movies she watched growing up in an exhibition that includes her new film work, Thieves.

For the fourth year, Double Door Studios in Dundee will transform its space into a unique shopping experience in their Festive Boutique (Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 December and selected dates until Christmas Eve). It features jewellery, candles, fragrances and frames made on location, along with work by artists and designers from across Scotland.

Inspired by Banksy’s CUT + RUN, head to Glasgow’s Gallery Of Modern Art for Human Rights Day: Balloons Of Solidarity (Sunday 10 December). Attendees will be asked to draw and write on colourful paper balloons to express solidarity with those currently affected by conflict.

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