This month I wrote a program for a church Christmas dinner. Our theme was The Polar Express! I combined images and phrases from the book by Chris Van Allsburg and the movie staring Tom Hanks to share a Christmas message of faith in Jesus Christ.

Producing the program is simple. Here are the steps:

1. Invite two readers to be the Conductor and Narrator. We used a married couple and it worked great! We did one practice read-through before the night of our event.
2. Find someone to manage the PowerPoint presentation. Simple! My teenage daughter did this task for me.
3. Download the Polar Express soundtrack and have someone cue up songs and play them throughout the narration. This can easily be done by creating a playlist. It takes a little bit of practice to fade songs in and out during the narration, but really, anyway you do it works great! The music provides a magical background to the readings.
4. Ask one to three people to perform during the program. They can sing or dance!

Suggested Songs:

-When Christmas Comes to Town (This is especially cute if children sing it. There are easy minus tracks available online.)

-Believe (We had small ballerinas dance while the soundtrack played.)

-End the program with any song about the Savior. A Christmas carol? A contemporary piece? Even singing Silent Night as a group would be meaningful.

That’s it!

The script is included in this link: Polar Express Program

Here is the PowerPoint: PolarExpress2019

Feel free to edit and rewrite the script or rearrange images to best fit your audience and needs.

Here are a few pics from our successful evening:

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Decorations came mostly from what I had on hand. (Yep! I found a huge cardboard train in my attic. I can’t remember where we got it originally, but finding it was a Christmas miracle! It was a perfect addition to our evening.)

I also bought a few bells at Hobby Lobby and the Dollar Store. Oh, and I found golden Believe tickets at Oriental Trading along with a huge train wall poster. So much fun!

Here are the links: Golden Tickets  Train Backdrop Banner

The other trains, swags, lights, bells, and candles came from my house and other friends’ homes. Decorating at Christmas can be simple with items we already have.

The Conductor greeted our guests at the door with a golden ticket, and everyone enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner before the program. Such a magical evening!

Please share your ideas, additions, and successes in the comments below.

I hope this program, slideshow, photos and tips make your Christmas a little bit brighter and smoother.

Merry Christmas!