The Polar Express

On a snowy Christmas Eve, a little boy lies excited and wide awake in his bed.

He doesn’t move, hardly daring to breathe. He waits.

He is afraid he might miss that sound one last time, the sound he has often missed before - the jingling of the bells on Santa Claus's sleigh.

It is five minutes to midnight.

Suddenly, the boy is startled awake by a thunderous roar. He wipes the foggy glass of his window clean and can hardly believe his eyes: A shiny black train is stopped in front of his house, the steam from the massive locomotive hissing through the gently falling snowflakes into the night sky.

The boy runs outside in his pajamas and slippers, where he is greeted by the conductor, who has clearly been waiting for him. "So, are you coming?" asks the conductor.

"Where to?"

"Well, to the North Pole, of course. This is the Polar Express!".