History Main / TrueMeaningOfChristmas

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' combines this one with GroundhogDayLoop: Timmy wishes it was Christmas every day to get more presents, but this means Santa ends up getting overworked and he gets fewer and fewer presents. When the other holidays come after him, he learns the True Meaning of Christmas.
** Oddly, for this trope he already knew it - getting presents was less important to him than Christmas being one of the ''few'' days of the year his usually neglectful parents would give him any attention. Which sort of makes the episode's Aesop that wishing for Christmas every day is wrong kind of depressing from the perspective of FridgeLogic.

What is the True Meaning of Christmas? A [[StockAesop common]], yet ambiguous theme in {{Christmas Special}}s (episodes, films, stories, etc.), usually answered with AnAesop.

* One of the (yes, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext oddly out-of-place]]) Christmas specials of the wicked [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII World War II]] allegorical satire ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' sort of skates around this idea, featuring the titular three main characters going around asking their fellow NationsAsPeople about the treatment of Christmas around the world.

** Played much straighter in an earlier special, where the [[WeAREStrugglingTogether Allies]] and [[VillainProtagonist Axis]] are about to duke it out when they're interrupted by Finland, dressed as Santa and delivering presents. Touched, both groups agree to call an armistice in honor of the holiday spirit.

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* Parodied in the [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas Issue]] of ''Comicbook/ShadeTheChangingMan'', in which Meta's YouMeanXmas is the Day of Bones, originally celebrated by bringing the skeletons of their ancestors into the house and decorating them, but now celebrated with plastic skeletons that glow and play tunes. Some Metans think this is too commercial, and people are "forgetting the real meaning of digging up our ancestors' skeletons".

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/EdEddnEddy'' 's Jingle Jingle Jangle, Edd tries to tell Eddy this trope.

* Initially it seems Scrooge [=McDuck=] in ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'' doesn't need any sort of lesson, since his [[TheGrinch grinch act]] is...well, an ''act'', he does eventually realize he still needs to learn the true meaning of Christmas: that it's better with family, and the minor frustrations family brings pale to the joy and excitement they also bring. [[spoiler:[[YetAnotherChristmasCarol The Ghost of Christmas Past]] ''doesn't'' want Scrooge to learn that, since every time someone learns the true meaning of Christmas, they become too busy celebrating it with the family to hang out with him.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' combines this one with GroundhogDayLoop: Timmy wishes it was Christmas every day to get more presents, but this means Santa ends up getting overworked and he gets fewer and fewer presents. When the other holidays come after him, he learns the TrueMeaningOfChristmas.

** The show parodied this in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E7EightMisbehavin Eight Misbehavin']]". After the episode skips from Manjula finding that she's pregnant to when she's about to give birth, the Simpsons offhandedly list a few things they've done over the last nine months. Bart's stories include "I learnt the true meaning of Columbus Day" and "and then I learnt the true meaning of Winter".
-->'''Bart:''' Hey, since when was Christmas just about the presents? Aren't we forgetting the true meaning of this day? The birth of Santa?\\
'''Homer:''' Let's just agree that on this day a million years ago a dude was born who lots of people think was magical. And some people don't think so, and that's cool too. But we're probably right.
** It was parodied again in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS23E9HolidaysOfFuturePassed Holidays of Future Passed]]", when Bart tells his future kids that they're the only thing worthwhile in his wasted life.
-->''' Bart's Future Son:''' You've taught us the meaning of Christmas. Which schools are forbidden to tell us anymore?

** "[[Recap/SouthParkS1E9MrHankeyTheChristmasPoo Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo]]" plays this a bit straighter: the town descends into PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad over what symbols can be used for Christmas without offending anyone (non-Christians don't want religious stuff, Christians don't want Santa, environmentalists don't want Christmas trees, etc.), wrecking the whole holiday. Eventually [[RefugeInAudacity Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo]] appears and tells everybody to stop focusing on what's ''wrong'' with Christmas and pay attention to what's ''right'' about it, like giving and baking cookies. Though, for added effect, [[LampshadeHanging the credits are interrupted with a brief cutaway to Jesus]], [[ForgottenBirthday singing a sad "Happy Birthday" to himself]].

-->"[The religious aspect] is important and obligatory for Christians; but as it can be of no interest to anyone else, I shall naturally say no more about it here."

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'s Christmas Carol'' has fun with this. Ebenezer Blackadder, the only good and friendly member of the Blackadder bloodline (and also an ExtremeDoormat), is shown that his descendant would rule all of the universe if he became a spiteful backstabbing miser like his ancestors (instead of being a slave to future Baldrick, which would happen if he were to remain kind and generous). He decides the true meaning of Christmas is that bad people have more fun. However, given that it's a Christmas episode it wouldn't do to fully endorse such a FamilyUnfriendlyAesop, so this backfires when Ebenezer slams the door in the face of his next visitors... unaware that it's UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and Prince Albert, who have turned up to publicly reward him for his famous generosity.

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'s Christmas Carol'' has fun with this. Ebenezer Blackadder, the only good and friendly member of the Blackadder bloodline (and also an ExtremeDoormat), sees that his descendant would rule all of the universe if he became a spiteful backstabbing miser like his ancestors (instead of being a slave to future Baldrick, which would happen if he were to remain kind and generous). He decides the true meaning of Christmas is that bad people have more fun. However, given that it's a Christmas episode it wouldn't do to fully endorse such a FamilyUnfriendlyAesop, so this backfires when Ebenezer slams the door in the face of his next visitors... unaware that it's UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and Prince Albert, who have turned up to publicly reward him for his famous generosity.

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'s Christmas Carol'' has fun with this. Ebenezer Blackadder, the only good and friendly member of the Blackadder bloodline (and also an ExtremeDoormat), sees that his descendant would rule all of the universe if he became a spiteful backstabbing miser like his ancestors (instead of being a slave to future Baldrick, which would happen if he were to remain kind and generous). He decides the true meaning of Christmas is that bad people have more fun. However, given that it's a Christmas episode it wouldn't do to fully endorse such a FamilyUnfriendlyAesop, so this backfires when Ebenezer slams the door in the face of his next visitors... unaware that it's UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and Prince Albert, who'd turned up to publicly reward him for his famous generosity.

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'s Christmas Carol'' has fun with this. Ebenezer Blackadder, the only good and friendly member of the Blackadder bloodline (and also an ExtremeDoormat), sees that his descendant would rule all of the universe if he became a spiteful backstabbing miser like his ancestors (instead of being a slave to future Baldrick, which would happen if he were to remain kind and generous). He decides the true meaning of Christmas is that bad people have more fun. However, given that it's a Christmas episode it wouldn't do to fully endorse such a FamilyUnfriendlyAesop, so this backfires when Ebenezer slams the door in the face of his next visitors... unaware that it's UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria and Prince Albert, who have turned up to publicly reward him for his famous generosity.

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'s Christmas Carol'' had fun with this. Ebenezer Blackadder, the only good and friendly member of the Blackadder bloodline (and also an ExtremeDoormat), sees that his descendant would rule all of the universe if he became a spiteful backstabbing miser like his ancestors (instead of being a slave to future Baldrick, which would happen if he were to remain kind and generous). He decides the true meaning of Christmas is that bad people have more fun. However given that it's a Christmas episode there must be a FamilyFriendlyAesop, so this backfires when Ebenezer slams the door in the face of his next visitors, unaware it's the Royal Family who has turned up to publicly reward him for his famous generosity.

You may have also heard the True Meaning of Christmas is being with your loved ones, worshipping Jesus and celebrating the memory of His birth, shopping, worshipping Odin, worshipping Mithras, having an orgy, praying for winter to end, or [[SoapboxSadie using holiday traditions (most of which you've appropriated from other religions) to lure people into converting to Christianity (starting with the people from whom you've appropriated those traditions so that they lose nothing by converting, and eventually moving on to kids of other religions whose childlike materialism makes them jealous because they don't get visited by your annual gift-giving mascot)]]. Sometimes it ends up being used as a synonym for world peace or ThePowerOfLove; it may not even be defined, but it has the same magical effect.

You may have also heard the True Meaning of Christmas is being with your loved ones, worshipping Jesus celebrating the memory of His birth, shopping, worshiping Odin, worshiping Mithras, having an orgy, praying for winter to end, or [[SoapboxSadie using holiday traditions (most of which you've appropriated from other religions) to lure people into converting to Christianity (starting with the people from whom you've appropriated those traditions so that they lose nothing by converting, and eventually moving on to kids of other religions whose childlike materialism makes them jealous because they don't get visited by your annual gift-giving mascot)]]. Sometimes it ends up being used as a synonym for world peace or ThePowerOfLove; it may not even be defined, but it has the same magical effect.

* In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', Death talks about teaching people the real meaning of Hogswatch (the Literature/{{Discworld}}'s Christmas equivalent). Albert sarcastically asks which one he means -- burn a big bonfire to bring back the sun? Someone's found a bean in their food so now we have to kill him? Slaughter all the livestock and hope we have enough food to get through winter? Death reluctantly concedes the point and says "''Very well, then. The Hogfather can teach people the ''unreal'' meaning of Hogswatch". Then he proceeds to subvert some {{Broken Aesop}}s, by giving rich gifts to poor children instead of letting them be grateful for what they get (which is usually almost nothing), and rescuing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Match_Girl The Little Match Girl]]. It's worth noting that part of the book's [[AnAesop Aesop]] (and that of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' in general) is that the "unreal" meanings of things are actually very important--''including'' the kinds of meanings that Albert sarcastically suggests.

* ''Literature/TheGiftOfTheMagi'': Della and Jim sacrifice their most prized possessions to buy presents for each other, and the loss of said possessions makes each present useless, but the narrator states "Of all who give gifts, these two were the most wise... Theey are the magi."

* Played straight (?) in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged''[='s=] "Plan to Eradicate Christmas", where Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Trunks and Vegeta put the True Meaning as having nothing to do with Santa Claus or the presents, but instead the True Meaning is the bonds that bring people together, family, friends, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and killing Santa]].

** The show parodied this in the episode where Apu and Manjula had octuplets. After the episode skips from Manjula finding that she's pregnant to when she's about to give birth, the Simpsons offhandedly list a few things they've done over the last nine months. Bart's stories include "I learnt the true meaning of Columbus Day" and "and then I learnt the true meaning of Winter".

** It was parodied again in the episode, "Holidays of Future Passed", when Bart tells his future kids that they're the only thing worthwhile in his wasted life.

* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "A Very Crappy Christmas," where it turns out that the true meaning is commercialism because otherwise people wouldn't have jobs.

** The first season episode "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo" plays this a bit straighter: the town descends into PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad over what symbols can be used for Christmas without offending anyone (non-Christians don't want religious stuff, Christians don't want Santa, environmentalists don't want Christmas trees, etc.), wrecking the whole holiday. Eventually [[RefugeInAudacity Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo]] appears and tells everybody to stop focusing on what's ''wrong'' with Christmas and pay attention to what's ''right'' about it, like giving and baking cookies. Though, for added effect, [[LampshadeHanging the credits are interrupted with a brief cutaway to Jesus]], [[ForgottenBirthday singing a sad "Happy Birthday" to himself]].

In fiction, the "True Meaning of Christmas" is often (though not always) "''better to give than to receive''." That is the most common Aesop, especially in kid's shows, but also sitcoms, etc. It's often [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] with those exact words when MrExposition sums it all up at the end.

[[quoteright:258:[[Webcomic/PennyArcade https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jesus-explains-christmas_2573.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:258:[[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/12/12/ It's really not very complicated.]]]]

However, the most memorable and popular of "Christmas specials" almost always have a different "True Meaning of Christmas" For example:

Those are probably the five "staple" movies of the Christmas season, in that they get shown year after year after year (on an endlessly repeating loop too). Yet none of them uses the most common "Christmas special" Aesop.

* In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', Death talks about [[AC: teaching people the real meaning of Hogswatch]] (the Literature/{{Discworld}}'s Christmas equivalent). Albert sarcastically asks which one he means -- burn a big bonfire to bring back the sun? Someone's found a bean in their food so now we have to kill him? Slaughter all the livestock and hope we have enough food to get through winter? Death reluctantly concedes the point and says [[AC: Very well, then. The Hogfather can teach people the ''unreal'' meaning of Hogswatch]]. Then he proceeds to subvert some {{Broken Aesop}}s, by giving rich gifts to poor children instead of letting them be grateful for what they get (which is usually almost nothing), and rescuing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Match_Girl The Little Match Girl]]. It's worth noting that part of the book's [[AnAesop Aesop]] (and that of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' in general) is that the "unreal" meanings of things are actually very important--''including'' the kinds of meanings that Albert sarcastically suggests.
-->[[AC: You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?]]

* ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is a major example, if not the UrExample. Scrooge learned to look beyond himself and found joy in bringing happiness to other people who needed it. (Under [[BrokenAesop threat of wandering the earth in chains forever]], but still.)

* Parodied in the [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas Issue]] of ''Comicbook/ShadeTheChangingMan'', in which Meta's YouMeanXmas is the Day of Bones, originally celebrated by bringing the skeletons of their ancestors into the house and decorating them, but now celebrated with plastic skeletons that glow and play tunes. Some Mentans think this is too commercial, and people are "forgetting the real meaning of digging up our ancestors' skeletons".

* Parodied in the [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas Issue]] of ''Comicbook/ShadeTheChangingMan'', in which Meta's YouMeanXmas is the Day of Bones, originally celebrated by bringing the skeletons of their ancestors into the house and decorating them, but now celebrated with plastic skeletons that glow and play tunes. Some Mentans think this is too commercial, and people "have forgotten the real meaning of digging up your ancestors' skeletons".

** Though one could also take it as him [[AGodAmI talking about himself]].

* An early example is "YesVirginia, There Is a Santa Claus," which dates from 1897. It's more about the meaning of Santa, of course - but in his role as a representation of belief, of trust in human goodness and in all the beautiful invisible things that cannot be simply found or recorded, but that requires faith to exist.

[[quoteright:251:[[Webcomic/PennyArcade https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jesus-explains-christmas_2573.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:251:[[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/12/12/ It's really not very complicated.]]]]