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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
What happens when [[Status Quo Is God]] smashes into a [[Christmas Episode]]. Perhaps no one ever goes to church or mentions a deity the rest of the year, but every now and again, around Christmas, our heroes will be shown the [[True Meaning of Christmas]] (it's never presents - well, [[Subverted Trope|not usually]]) and caring, and realize just how lucky they really are. They may even go to a Christmas service, [[Christianity Is Catholic|probably midnight mass on Christmas Eve]]. At the very least, they attempt to be kinder and more charitable toward those around them, embrace the brotherhood of man, and so forth.
Next week: back to [[Status Quo Is God|the usual whining, angst, arguments, adultery,]] [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and code-breaking]].
Common plotlines are the [["Gift of the Magi" Plot]], [[Yet Another Christmas Carol]], [[Away in
The title of this trope is taken from the Band Aid song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
Compare and contrast with [[Santa Clausmas]], [[Did I Mention It's Christmas?]] and [[Soapland Christmas]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
==
* The ''[[Love Hina]]'' Christmas special focuses on Keitaro and Naru trying to meet up with each other while it is still Christmas Eve.
** ...as does the ''[[Marmalade Boy]]'' Christmas episode.
* ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' both upholds and subverts the trope, as the protagonist and his ladylove use the holiday as an excuse to kiss over a
* On ''[[Vandread]]'', Hibiki gives Dita the gift of Christmas snow, despite their position on a ship in deep space, by grabbing a chunk off a nearby comet with his Vanguard mecha.
* In ''[[Kimagure Orange Road]]'' the Christmas episode involved Kasuga [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|time traveling]] [[Reset Button|three times]] in order to create a Christmas Eve meeting that didn't leave either [[Love Triangle|Hikaru or Madoka]] furious at him, due to the [[Serious Business|Serious implications]] of a [[Wacky Marriage Proposal|Christmas Eve Date]].
* ''[[
** This could be a subtle subversion, as later revelations about Rosewater indicate he was probably talking about [[A God Am I|himself]].
* More than once in the ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' manga, although in the anime, these episodes were all altered to remove the Christmas element. Oddly, the anime still put out Christmas merchandise with the girls in Santa suits.
* ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' had a Christmas episode where Ichigo tries to give Masaya a magical piece of jewelry she got from Zakuro. He ends up in the hospital {{spoiler|after being hit with an exploding Mew Aqua, setting up a plot point that was left unexplained in the manga, so this Christmas episode actually ''means'' something.}}
* A character working his behind off to buy his significant other the ''perfect'' Christmas or other holiday gift (which is far outside his normal means) is a standard anime plot. Examples include ''[[Ah!
* ''[[Ranma ½
** Similarly, in the original manga version of ''[[Dominion Tank Police]]'', Al gives Leona a Christmas gift, which she gladly accepts, though she mentions if her devoutly Buddhist grandfather ever got wind of it, he'd smack her with his boukken.
* ''[[Tokyo Godfathers]]'', of course, for a unique Japanese Christmas story. It even opens with two of the main characters attending Mass and watching a Nativity scene, and there is a surprising number of allegories to the birth of Christ in
* ''[[Kamichu!]]''
* The ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[
▲== Literature ==
* In spite of no one ever mentioning deities or religion of any kind in the highly supernatural world of ''[[Harry Potter (
▲* The ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Hogfather|Hogfather]]'' spoofs the everloving hell out of this one. Most notably, when Death announces that, as the stand-in Hogfather he can teach people "the real meaning of Hogswatch", his assistant Albert helpfully lists the more unpleasant aspects of pagan solstice ceremonies. Death instead resolves to teach people "the ''unreal'' meaning of Hogswatch".
▲* In spite of no one ever mentioning deities or religion of any kind in the highly supernatural world of ''[[Harry Potter (Literature)|Harry Potter]]'', the wizarding world still celebrates Christmas. Presumably this stems from the series being set in [[Urban Fantasy|modern Britain]], as well as the author herself [[Author Appeal|being a Christian]].
** Or rather, that religion is considered a private matter in Britain, and so the characters would naturally refrain from using it to spiel of Aesops.
* [[
▲== [[Live Action Television]] ==
* The episode of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' "Amends," which ends with the heroic vampire Angel being saved from {{spoiler|his Christmas morning suicide attempt by a [[Deus Ex Machina|miraculous]] snow storm (in southern California, for those of you wondering why it's miraculous)}}.
** Subverted, the <s>people</s> gods that caused it, called [[The Powers That Be]] are an important thing on [[Angel
* [[Double Subversion]] in ''[[
* ''[[Eastenders]]'' is infamous for subverting this trope most years, by turning the [[Crapsack World|usual tone of the series]] [[Up to Eleven|up to 11]].
* As a radio show, ''[[The
* Parodied to the max in the [[Britcom]] ''[[Nightingales]]''. In the Christmas special, three security guards are attempting to celebrate Christmas when they are approached by an unmarried, highly pregnant girl called 'Mary' for a room for the night. They let her stay, only if she promises NOT to be an allegory for the true meaning of Christmas. She later [[Away in
* At the end of the TV movie ''[[The Hebrew Hammer]]'', the titular Hammer brags to his mother that he's saved Hanukkah, and she isn't at all impressed - it's not like he saved one of the high holy days.
* ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'' had a [[Christmas Episode]] in one of the earlier seasons. Carol developed laryngitis, and Cindy pleaded with a department store Santa Claus to give her back her voice so she could sing the solo at church on Christmas
* The Christmas episode of ''[[My So-Called Life]]'' has this. Especially blatant in that it's the (otherwise irreligious) ''teenage kid'' and not the parents who insists that everyone attend Christmas Eve mass.
* Subverted in the ''[[
** By attempting to beat the crap out of Star-Burns and his friends.
* On ''[[Wonderfalls]]'', the "twice-a-year church attendance" trope is referenced and spoofed when Jaye's former classmate, who has converted to Judaism in order to marry her husband, demonstrates some ignorance of the basic tenets of the religion and then cheerfully informs Jaye, "I'm more of a Christmas and Easter Jew."
** Later on, when Jaye befriends a Catholic nun (well, former nun), her family reveal themselves as actual Christmas and Easter Protestants when they try to drag her to church, to her bewilderment.
{{quote|
* Although the only religious background shown in ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' is Arty and family being Jewish, the show still had a Christmas-themed episode that had a Santa Claus themed villain-artifact creation, but brought everyone together and celebrated the theme of 'family togetherness'.
* Averted in ''[[Misfits]]''. The typical idea of the christmas spirit does not include {{spoiler|killing Jesus (or at least, the man pretending to be him.}}
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* ''[[Glee]]'''s Christmas episode of the third season had Rachel, who is very vocally Jewish, greedily demanding Christmas gifts from her boyfriend and eventually learning the "true meaning of Christmas" after having a bible verse about Jesus read to her during a Christmas special the Glee club is shooting. Her Judaism is not mentioned until literal last second of the episode as the camera is pulling away and Rachel throws out a "Happy Hanukkah" that is essentially lost in the shuffle of the other noise going on.
* The [[Trope Namer]] is "Do They Know It's Christmas?," a charity song by Band Aid. It is certifiably an [[Ear Worm]], but it really doesn't have to do much with the trope; the question is whether the poor and starving children in Ethiopia (which was having a famine at the time) knew about the joy and happiness that was their due on Christmas Day. Of course, while their hearts may have been in the right place the Western-centric overtones of this premise was not lost on younger listeners (For instance,
▲== Music ==
▲* The [[Trope Namer]] is "Do They Know It's Christmas?," a charity song by Band Aid. It is certifiably an [[Ear Worm]], but it really doesn't have to do much with the trope; the question is whether the poor and starving children in Ethiopia (which was having a famine at the time) knew about the joy and happiness that was their due on Christmas Day. Of course, while their hearts may have been in the right place the Western-centric overtones of this premise was not lost on younger listeners (For instance, while most Ethiopians are Christians, they don't celebrate Christmas the same way, and, being Orthodox, it falls on 7 January; to say nothing of the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of a line like "Tonight thank God it's them instead of you"), and so the song was parodied and its premise subverted by "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?," which is what happens when a bunch of (mostly Canadian) indie rockers get their hands on something like this.
* [[Tom Lehrer]] mocked this trope with his song "A Christmas Carol":
{{quote|
Your fellow man you must adore,
There's time to rob him all the more
The other three hundred and sixty-four. }}
* A version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" first popularized by Pete Seeger and the Weavers makes note of the love and goodwill that predominate during the holiday season, then rhetorically asks, "Why can't we have Christmas the whole year around?"
==
* An Easter Sunday strip of ''[[For Better or For Worse]]'' from [[The Eighties]] calls attention to this very trope. The Pattersons get dressed up and go to church, where young Michael is somewhat fascinated by the choir and stained glass windows and such. He asks his mother if the church is always open and she tells him yes, it's open every Sunday. In the final panel, to the amusement of the nearby preacher (and the chagrin of his parents), he innocently inquires, "Then how come we only come here twice a year?"
* Huey Freeman of ''[[The Boondocks]]'' is an inversion, as he is seen to become ''even more'' cynical and cold around the holidays due to knowledge of the origin of all of the secular traditions and how bastardized the holiday really is.
* From a 1965 ''[[Peanuts]]'' strip:
{{quote|
'''Charlie Brown:''' Why does it have to be for just this time of year? Why can't it be all year 'round?
'''Lucy:''' What are you, some kind of fanatic or something? }}
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
▲== Web Original ==
* From the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', the story in which Bungie and Ultra-Man brow-beat the normally aloof Achilles, who's never really experienced a ''real'' Christmas himself, into dressing up as Santa Claus for a local orphanage and handing out presents. It ends with Achilles discovering a gift-wrapped present on his bunk in Guardians headquarters. We never find out who sent it, or what was in it, but it is implied that the gift came from his father.
* In the [[Whateley Universe]], the story "Ayla and the Grinch". Except that Ayla and her big sister can't go to the Christmas Eve church service because of what they are.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* While it was played fairly straight in the rest of the episode, one plot-line of the ''[[Justice League]]'' episode "Comfort and Joy" involved an alien bar fight.
** That was how [[Blood Knight|Hawkgirl]] celebrates her holidays.
* Subversion of the parenthetical note above: ''[[
** This is the same conclusion reached by the kids in "The Spirit of Christmas," the short film that formed the basis of ''[[South Park]].''
* ''[[South Park]]'' also subverted the trope in the "Red Sleigh Down" episode; Santa Claus is taken prisoner in Baghdad and Jesus leads a commando mission to rescue him. Santa makes it out alive, but Jesus is shot and killed during the escape, which prompts Santa to give a conclusory speech about how Jesus died for him.
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* In the show ''[[Clone High]]'', Christmas had been replaced by the highly-secularized "Snowflake Day", with "traditional gifts" of hot sauces and a pirate mascot. Joan of Arc learns the True meaning of Snowflake Day from what she suspects was <s>an angel</s> [[Mandy Moore]], but was really a homeless person whose buddies looted her house. (I would recommend not watching the episode if you are offended by gratuitous amounts of blood.)
* ''[[Static Shock]]'' had a Christmas episode which dealt with homelessness - Virgil is forced to constantly miss holiday celebrations over a Bang Baby with the power to cause snow storms. Following the advice of his preacher, he tries to see the Bang Baby as a person and realizes that she's just a scared, crazy, homeless girl who never meant to hurt anyone. It all follows up with Virgil, Richie, and their families attending a massive Christian/Jewish/Islamic celebration at the local church. Very touching, although the Hawkins family already was shown to put massive amounts of time and energy into community service and helping others, so yeah...
* Hilariously subverted in ''[[The Spectacular Spider
== [[Real Life]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]
[[Category:Christmas Tropes]]
[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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