What made the Beatles Christmas shows different than a regular Beatles concert is that besides just singing, you would also get to see the Beatles act. Pantomime is a popular form of entertainment in England at Christmas, especially in the 1950's and 1960's. And while it was extremely cheesy and goofy, the Beatles tried to have fun with it. The truth is that the Beatle fans in the audience did not care what the Beatles were doing on the stage. They just wanted to see John, Paul, George and Ringo.
For the 1964 shows, the Beatles dressed up as Eskimos and they were supposed to be in Antarctica searching for the Abominable Snowman. Their dialogue was projected on the background during the sketch. This was done because everyone always screamed so much when the Beatles were on stage. They also had points in the show where the Beatles held up cards with words on them and there was a lot of miming action because of the screaming.