We didn't expect a movie with an alternative origin of Christmas and Santa Claus to be THIS sad.
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- The little Krum boy's drawing. To the inattentive eye (such as Jesper), it's a simple drawing of a little boy's house. But to an empathic soul like Klaus, it's a sobering look at the bleak and lonely lives of the children in Smeerensburg.
- Klaus's poignant expression when he watches the little boy enjoy playing with the toy is this as well as heartwarming.
- There's something sobering about seeing Klaus's barn almost empty of any toys to spare. Jesper may only be sad because it means he won't be able to meet his quota of 6000 letters, but one can also sense a nostalgia for a time when the barn was filled with dozens upon dozens of toys when he first saw it. And now, it's empty.
- During Jesper's Christmas pitch, when he proposes the idea that Klaus will supply new toys with his crafting skills, we get this sobering line.Klaus: I don't make toys. Not anymore...
- Jesper stumbling upon a decorative shelf that holds carved dolls of a woman and her husband, the latter strongly resembling a younger Klaus, and lots of empty hollows where children should be. There's no further dialogue, no words; the entire thing speaks volumes of Klaus's past. Jesper is stunned to realize why Klaus is a hermit.
- Just before this, Klaus briefly confuses the outline of Jesper for Lydia, and the disbelieving hope in his eyes is heartbreaking.
- Klaus' reaction to the uncovering of the shelf isn't any better, as he didn't want Jesper to touch it due to being too personal for him and furiously yells at Jesper to Get Out! of his house.
- Klaus telling Jesper about how he and his wife wanted (many) children, but they were never successful in conceiving one. They kept trying all the way until his wife fell sick and died. Klaus' Manly Tears at the end really drive his grief home. It's also why he fixated on making birdhouses after her passing - she loved birds, and he couldn't think of a better way to honor her memory than to keep doing it.
- Basically if you thought the situation with Carl and Ellie was bad, this is much much worse. At least Carl and Ellie got to grow old together and Carl was able to move on and have a (surrogate) grandchild. Klaus, on the other hand, lost Lydia at a relatively young age and never interacted with the children of Smeerensburg beyond Márgu.
- When Klaus decides to go through with Jesper's Christmas idea, we have Jesper quietly say to himself "But I might not even be here". Granted it's a promising testament of his personal growth, it sadly marks how conflicted he's becoming, torn between staying with his friend and leaving Smeerensburg for the miserable town he still thinks it is.
- In a way, the group of Krums and Ellingboes who refuse to stop their feud. They can’t accept change and they refuse to let their families be friends with one another, so much that they’re willing to ruin someone’s hard work meant to make their own children happy. They’re so accustomed to their fights that this newfound love and friendship confounds them. They'd rather cling to their hatred instead of letting it go and embracing true happiness.
- Alva and Klaus' reaction to learning the truth of why Jesper wanted to deliver toys. The angry, disappointed looks of betrayal are just too much. And when Klaus shuts the door in his face, it's the most painful sound to Jesper, who was just starting to realize how important his friends were.
- Alva must've taken it pretty hard when one considers that the children wanting to learn was what restored her dream to be a teacher. And now that she knows Jesper sent them to her school for ulterior motives, it leaves her wondering if they really came to learn or if they just came so they could write Mr. Klaus for a toy.
- "Everybody's out to get something, right?" It's not just Klaus being bitter that Jesper essentially used him. There's a tone in his voice that suggests he suspected all along Jesper had a hidden agenda for delivering toys. His tone sounds very much like he's thinking "I knew it..."
- When the boat carrying Jesper away from Smeerensburg departs the harbor, Márgu rushes to the waterfront on her sleigh (that Klaus and Jesper made for her), leaps off it and runs to the edge of the water, crying for Jesper to come back. It's her most prized possession in the entire world, and she abandons it without a backward glance because what's important to her is that she doesn't want her friend to leave.
- Mrs. Krum tearing open the bag of Christmas presents to send them over the cliff is heartbreaking on two levels. The first level, we're led to believe that we're seeing weeks' worth of Klaus's hard work and effort, so cruelly undone. The second level, in a movie about 'true selfless acts', what Mrs. Krum does is truly the most spiteful act we see in the movie.
- The epilogue where Jesper looks everywhere for Klaus after the latter has passed on. On his end, he never even got a chance to say goodbye to him.
- Jesper's immediate reaction to the empty workshop isn't even of panic, but almost a somber kind of worry, like he's not exactly surprised that something like this happened.
- The visual of Jesper vanishing in the snow storm as he says "It was as if he just faded away..." Granted he's talking about Klaus, one can feel the same can be said for Jesper. Klaus only disappeared physically, but at least he left a legacy. Chances are, Jesper won't be so lucky; and as he did with the snowstorm, he will eventually fade into obscurity with the passage of time.
- For some reason, it's sobering to see Klaus grow older in the span of the 12 year time skip, watching his age catch up with him.
- A small moment, not only Klaus growing older is poignant, but it's also strangely bittersweet that Márgu has grown from a Pint-Sized Kid to a full-grown lady in all that time. She's a testament that this is what eventually happens to all children in 12 years time: they grow up...
- After Klaus' passing, Jesper only gets to see him one night a year.
- "Invisible" by Swedish singer Zara Larsson. It is such a tearjerking yet beautiful pop ballad, not only it brings hope but it lets you know that the greatest things you'll ever know are invisible. You couldn't touch it, see it, but you can feel it. Where are those tissues?
