40 Ways Harry Potter Is Perfect for Christmas
By Ani Bundel
With Christmas upon us, and the tidings of the seasons in full swing, let us take a moment to marvel at how much the world of Harry Potter ties into and embodies our holiday spirit.
Harry Potter and Christmas. It may seem like a slightly strange thing that has happened in the last decade, but somehow the two things now go together like peanut butter and jelly. Or to use a Wizarding Idiom, like beer and butter.
So why is Harry Potter our modern day Christmas set of movies? Perhaps because throughout the story, in both the books and the movies, there are tons of ways that Harry Potter’s story and his adventures are perfect for the time of peace and love that is supposedly what we celebrate at Christmas.
We sat down and rounded them all up for you to warm your heart this holiday season. Forty ways the Harry Potter series embodies the spirit of the season. Enjoy, and have a happy (or Merry) Christmas.
Next: 40. Christmas in the Great Hall
40. Christmas in the Great Hall
Hogwarts never looked better than at Christmas time. The entire set, and the Great Hall, which is based on the dining hall at Christ Church, Oxford, seemed to lend itself to magic when it came time to decorate for the holidays. In the books, the hall is described as having twelve trees installed in the Great Hall, brought in by Hagrid. The first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, compounded the description (which includes a brief mention of “spectacular ornaments”) by having the smallest Professor, Flitwick, magically levitate the decorations onto the enormous trees all around the Hall. And even though it is a smaller group of students who stay over the Christmas holidays, instead of going home to their parents, the feast that is served is a type of dream that seems to go on forever with more food than anyone could ever know what to do with.
This is one of the reasons that the Harry Potter movies have come to gather a reputation as movies that are appropriate for the Christmas season. Christopher Columbus’ focus on the wonderment of the holiday in the first two movies, as well as the childlike fulfillment aspects of wonderful Christmases spent among friends, started the series off on a pro-Christmas foot. Unlike the later movies, those first two also emphasize the colors of the world, and the Christmas time sets are red and green and gold in a way that stays in your mind years later.
Next: 39. Four Movies Released at Christmas
39. Four Movies Released at Christmas
A second reason why the first Harry potter movie made a large deal about Christmas had to do with the release date. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone arrived in theaters in November of 2001, and was positioned to work as the Christmas movie that year for the younger set that families of all ages could go and enjoy. Though putting the movie in such a tentpole and competitive position, the studio was a little hesitant that Harry Potter mania, which had only begun to crest in 1999, and spread with the release of book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the next year, wouldn’t have legs in the movie house outside a family-and-child oriented audience. (There was also a bit of hesitation in the US, with September 11th only two months before, to market too heavily to adults.)
Both Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were timed for Christmas, one year after the other. It wasn’t until the third movie, with the first two as certified hits under Warner Brother’s belt that they decided to risk releasing outside of the holiday zone, putting Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in the Memorial Day/beginning of summer position. They returned back to the November release period for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and then again for the first of the one-two punch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parts 1 and 2 begin released six months apart. With four of the eight movies fixed in movie goers minds as Christmas releases, is it any wonder we think of them as holiday fare?
Next: 38. Cribbages Wizarding Crackers
38. Cribbages Wizarding Crackers and other Wizarding Christmas Toys
The most awesome Christmas cracker in existence is known as Cribbages Wizarding Crackers. As seen in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, they are like the traditional UK cracker. A cracker, for US readers is a cardboard tube done up in Christmas wrapping paper and twisted closed at both ends. Inside are prizes, like paper hats. In order to get them out, two people each hold an end and pull it apart, which occurs with a bang. (Hence the name “cracker.”) Wizarding crackers are known to be far louder, going off like cannons when popped. They also wilder and crazier prizes inside. Known prizes that have been received from them include a rear-admiral’s hat, a flowered bonnet, a top hat, and a witch’s hat topped with a stuffed vulture.
Wizards also have other quite awesome toys and presents that come with the Christmas holidays, including non-exploding luminous balloons, which are the best balloons ever, since they are unpoppable, and glow from the inside. There are also Super Wizard Crackers, which have full on prizes, like mice or chocolate frogs, and famously, a full Wizard Chess set, which Harry Potter got in the first book.
Next: 37. All the Harry Potter Gear for the Holidays!
37. All the Harry Potter Gear for the Holidays!
Etsy is exploding! We did a full round up of Harry Potter gifts for the holidays back a couple of weeks ago, but the sheer amount of stuff can sometimes feel staggering. As we put it, it can make your favorite muggle (or you!) feel like they just drank a vile of Felix Felicis potion on Christmas morning.
And if you’re not into shopping at Etsy, remember, there’s also The Harry Potter Shop. Here you will find a long list of Potterverse merchandise from every house, so wherever your loved one’s allegiance lies, there is something perfect for them. The list includes books, movies, clothing, toys and costumes, blankets and bedding, accessories, wands and other collectibles.
Next: 36. JK Rowling's Christmas Potter Stories
36. JK Rowling’s Christmas Potter Stories
Last year, J.K. Rowling gave the Potterverse a huge present. 12 days of brand new Potter stories, on the website Pottermore. it had been three years since the final movie had come out, and it would be two more before the new series Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them would hit theaters. But the hunger for new Potter stories had not abated. There were also quite a few people who wanted to see just how much hunger there was out there for more Potter tales–London’s West End weas seriously considering commissioning a new Potter tale (Which is now entitled Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), and they needed to see if the demand was still out there.
It was. Even though it took a while to hit its peak, Rowling’s new stories drove huge traffic to Pottermore–this despite the fact that it was still mainly designed to appeal to the more hardcore Potter fan, with puzzles to solve, and sometimes games to play, in order to get through to each story. The tidbits ranged from full on biographies of characters to small notes on locations seen in the books, to objects used in it. The first story, Night One, was a short on the town of Cokeworth, which it turned out was the town where Lily, Petunia and Snape all grew up. It was only the beginning of the journey when harry stayed the night there in the very first book, but it turned out to hold all the secrets that drove the story in the first place.
Next: 35. Harry Discovers Wizard's Chess
35. Harry Discovers Wizard’s Chess
There are many delightful moments about Harry’s first Christmas at Hogwarts. After years of neglect, it’s the first time he received presents from his friends. One of those presents is contained within a Super Wizard Cracker, a full on Wizard’s Chess set. Wizard’s chess is the enchanted variation of the board game Muggles know, and even if they don’t love, they respect. In this version, the piece move of their own accord, under the commands of the players. When the pieces “take” each other, an actual fight ensues, which pieces smashing each other to bits. In the first memorable game shown on screen in Sorcerer’s Stone, we see these fights play out, as the Queen stands up out of her chair and proceeds to smash it over the head of the Knight, like some sort of demented WWE match.
Though it is not obvious when the chess set is introduced, like many details in Rowling’s stories, it turns out that this is going to be important later. Ron beats harry at chess, admitting to being quite good at the game. Turns out he really is. When Harry Ron and Hermione are wget himself and his friends to the other end of the board. (in the end he has to sacrifice himself to the White Queen in roder to achieve it, but sometimes sacrificing the piece you love is the only way to win the game.)
Next: 34. God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs
34. God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs
God rest ye merry, hippogriffs,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Sirius will keep you safe
Upon this Christmas Day,
And save you from the Minister
Whose mind has gone astray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy,
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.
God rest ye merry, house elves,
Let nothing you dismay,
Hermione will keep you safe
Upon this Christmas Day,
And set you free from slavery
And give you weekly pay.
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy,
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.
God rest ye, acromantulas
Let nothing you dismay,
For Hagrid will protect you all
Upon this Christmas day,
And save you all from those who say
You should be sent away.
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy,
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.
33. Harry finds The Mirror of Erised
Another memorable moment from Harry’s first ever true Christmas–he stumbles upon the Mirror on Erised. It shows the person looking into it their deepest, most desperate desires. It is an ancient piece of magic, with a heavy gold frame and clawed feet. Around the frame are inscribed the words “Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.” This is not some magical language, nor is it, like many of the spells cast in Harry Potter, in Latin. Instead it is well, mirror language, in that it is backwards. Turn the words around and you get: Ishow no tyo urfac ebu tyo urhe arts desire.
I show not your face but your heart’s desire
Harry looks into the mirror and for the first time sees the thing he’s always wanted–the faces of his parents, staring back at him , smiling in a family portrait. Over the course of the Christmas holiday, Harry becomes more and more obsessed with the mirror until he finds himself sitting in front of it for hours. it’s a sad scene for Christmas and one that reminds us all how lonely Harry has been all these years. Eventually Dumbledore finds out what has happened and convinces Harry to come away from the dream, and live in the world as it is now. (And for safety’s sake, he has the mirror removed.)
Next: 32. Wizarding Christmas Snacks
32. Wizarding Christmas Snacks
Face it–one of the most delightful things in the early Harry Potter books is the childish delight and detail put into all the candy that he and Ron and their friends eat. And at Christmas time, they always find their stockings stuffed full of these bizarre but awesome sounding treats. Everything from Sugared Butterfly Wings to Chocolate Frogs to Fizzing Whizzbees, Sugar Quills, Glacial Snowflakes and of course, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. These snacks and sugary treats are a staple of Wizarding Christmases and our fantasies of having one.
Though in the muggle world it was Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans that took hold of the imagination and were produced for sale by the Jelly Belly company, Chocolate frogs are actually the most popular candy of all the Wizarding treats that show up at Christmas. That’s due to the collectible Chocolate Frog cards that are contained within every package, which Rowling uses to introduce characters who will turn out to be important down the road. It is how we first learn about Dumbledore’s history before Harry becomes friends with him. It also is used to introduce early on the battle Dumbledore fought against Gellert Grindelwald, and the correlation it has to WWII, all the way back in the first book, which then becomes a major plot twist in the final book when we learn that the two of them were chasing the Deathly Hallows. It also is useful for when Harry Ron and Hermione need to identify Nicholas Flamel when searching for the Philosopher’s Stone.
Next: 31. Polyjuice Potion Christmas
31. Polyjuice Potion Christmas
Christmas in Harry’s second yearat Hogwarts was a little less on the “amazingly idyllic side” and more on the “adventure mystery” side. As Harry and his friends try and figure out what the Chamber of Secrets is, and why students are being petrified, they suspect (rather wrongly) that Draco Malfoy and his thugs Crabbe and Goyle are somehow involved. In order to spy on them, Hermione comes up with a plan to make polyjuice potion and disguise themselves as Syltherins and find out what is happening. Though there is a scene of the three exchanging presents and having a happy Christmas together, the real thrust of this second holiday celebrated at Hogwarts is how the three of them have become a little family unit unto themselves.
Introducing the polyjuice potion at Christmas is also another foreshadowing of later, far more important uses of the same magical spell. In this case, the results are mostly comic, with Harry and Ron only somewhat able to fake their way through being Crabbe and Goyle, while Hermione is sidelined all together, since it turns out the hairs she stole were actually that of the girl’s cat. When the same potion is reused later in The Deathly Hallows, for the three of them to break into the Ministry, the fact that we already had this first adventure makes it so time is not needeless wasted explaining the spell to the audience, who are already familiar with it from the second year Christmas.
Next: 30. Harry learns of the Room of Requirement
30. Harry learns of the Room of Requirement
Speaking of foreshadowing–Harry’s Fourth year Christmas is positively stuffed full of discoveries that become useful later on down the line. Of course, what everyone remembers from Year Four is the Yule Ball, that’s held in conjunction with the Triwizard Tournament. (We’ll get to that later in the countdown.) What they might not remember is Harry and Ron’s attempted spy-capades in the middle of the event, after being massive disappointment to their Patel sister dates. During them, they learn about the Room of Requirement, though it is not so named at the time. Also known as the Come-and-Go room, it is a space that only reveals itself to the seeker when they really need it.
Once this room has been seeded into Harry’s awareness, it is not that surprising that Dobby brings it right back up when, the next year on, Harry is looking for a space for the DA to meet. (In the movie, it’s Neville who has found it before, since Dobby was cut.) Not only does this room function as a meeting space, it also has inside it the Room of Hidden Things. Much like the Room of Requirement, this is seeded in before it is actually needed. (Harry discovers the Room of Hidden Things in Year 6, and then goes back to it to hunt down Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem in Year 7.)
Next: 29. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Package
29. Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes Package
Much like Wizarding candy, the Weasley twin’s joke shop, full of captivating pranks and gag gifts (as well as the Fantastic creature, the Pygmy puff) captures the imaginations of children and early teens all over the world when they first appeared on the pages of the Potter series. As with most of the sorts of things that muggle readers would wish for to appear in their stockings, we experience this wish fulfillment as Harry receives and entire package of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes for Christmas. (As well he should, since he provided the galleons to fund the venture in the first place, after the twins drop out of Hogwarts without graduating.)
As with the Chocolate frogs, Rowling introduces these items that are originally sold in the joke shop. But it turns out these are also items that will come in handy later on when the war begins. Extendable ears, for instance become useful for spying. Peruvian Instant Darkness powder is used against Dumbledore’s Army in a fight with Draco Malfoy and his death eater wannabes. And of course, the Weasleys’ Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, because anything that is a firework can also double as an explosive in the right hands. Merry Christmas indeed.
Next: 28. Strictly Christmas Special
28. Strictly Christmas Special
If you were looking for proof that Harry Potter returned directly to its rightful place in the heart of popular culture the moment that fantastic beasts was announced, look no further than the upcoming Christmas special on BBC One for Strictly Come Dancing. Filmed partly at the Warner Brother’s Studio Tour Great Hall in the Hogwarts Great Hall exhibit, this popular Christmas special is promising to bring some magic to the dances by having them performed there. (Can you imagine if reality TV really wanted to tape in a Wizarding location? The fanfiction writes itself people.) The main dances for the special will be held in the usual ballroom set, complete this year with Bruce Forsyth cohosting beside Tess Daly. It does not look as if he did any taping at the Great Hall set, but someone slipping him potions might explain how he is returning in such good health after being gone from the program for two years.
It’s not that surprising that Warner Brothers partnered with the BBC to use the Christmas special to promote the “Hogwarts in the Snow” exhibit. With Fantastic Beasts next November and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opening in London’s West End at the end of the spring, the Potter resurgence may yet rival that of Star Wars, at least in the UK. Likewise, Strictly would certainly like to get on the Wizarding World train while it’s still sitting at platform 9 3/4s.
Next: 27. Harry Potter Hangs at the Three Broomsticks
27. Harry Potter Hangs at the Three Broomsticks Inn
Escaping Hogwarts is just what the Christmas season called for in Harry Potter’s third year. The popular pub is a place that lots of Hogwarts students visit down in Hogsmede. Unfortunately, with the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban, Harry was unable to go down to the village, due to his Aunt and Uncle refusing to sign the permission slip. Even though the professors understood that it was a technicality, most felt keeping Potter in Hogwarts was safer anyway. This lead to him having to be snuck in via a secret passage in the back of Honey Dukes, the sweet shop.
Hanging out with friends drinking Butterbeer probably didn’t seem like something that had to be done via Invisibility Cloak, but here we are. Christmas can find one doing funny things in the name of getting out for the season. As for the teachers accidentally giving away that Sirius was Harry’s godfather because they didn’t know he was in the room, well, that’s not really their fault, now is it?
Next: 26. JK Rowling's Christmas Potter Stories: Dumbledore
26. JK Rowling’s Christmas Potter Stories: Dumbledore
There were many good histories and stories seeded through the Twelve Days of Potter Christmas that J.K. Rowling gave us last year. But one of my personal favorites (and one I thought was overshadowed since it came on the very last day) was the one dedicated to the Order of Merlin. This award is one that is one of the most prestigious prizes in the Wizarding World. Dumbledore was awarded it for his work in taking down Gellert Grindelwald. Which is perhaps why in order to get to the story, one had to solve the puzzle that focused on Dumbledore’s funeral at the end of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
The order of Merlin is meant to commemorate the most distinguished wizard of his time, and predates the Ministry of Magic by several hundreds of years, having been established in the 15th century. Dumbledore clearly earned the award for his services to the country when taking out Grindelwald. One could argue though that one should be awarded to Harry Potter for his services in taking out Voldemort. (Twice! In under 20 years!) But instead it was award by Cornelius Fudge to himself for acts of bureaucratic nonsense.
Next: 25. The Ghost Carollers
25. The Ghost Carollers
This ethereal choir which haunts Hogwarts every Christmas is famous for gliding about singing Christmas carols. Though they are only mentioned in passing in the book, in the movie they are treated as a full on choir, singing the carol Christmas at Hogwarts.
The ghosts of Hogwarts are something that were emphasized more in the early movies and played down in the later ones as the childish glee that comes from such characters as Nearly-headless Nick and the Fat Lady gave way to the more serious aspects of political exploitation and bureaucratic witch hunts for dark wizards and witches. This is unfortunate, since they are a delightful characters, especially at Christmas time, when they are seen floating about the Great Hall and the Common Rooms celebrating the season (or pranking in the name of the season, depending on their mood.) The Ghost Carollers were a highlight of the early Christmas scenes in the movies, and I wish we had seen more of them.
Next: 24. Studio Tour Christmas Dinner
24. Studio Tour Christmas Dinner
Much like they opened their doors to allow Strictly Come Dancing to tape their Christmas special there, Warner Brothers also opened their Great Hall to lucky fans this month to a few lucky fans to have a reenactment of the Hogwarts Christmas feast. The holiday dinner was held in the Leavesden studio, which is where much of the movies were filmed. According to reports from the dinner, the menu was just as lavish as one would expect, including “canapés, champagne and an elaborate feast of ham, roast potatoes, peas, roast turkey stuffed with cranberry and sausage, lasagna with zucchini.” And of course, there was plenty of butterbeer.
Many of the 200 or so fans who participated (most of whom had paid $350 to be there) came in costume, from run of the mill House scarves to full on homemade cosplay outfits based on the movies’ costumes. The entire thing was a marketing marvel, since nearly all the fans posted about the experience on social media, making those who lived too far, or could not afford tickets only wish more than they could have gone.
Next: 23. Everlasting Icicles and Other Decorations
23. Everlasting Icicles and Other Decorations
Wizards decorate right. Everyone wants icicles to decorate because they are shiny and glow beautifully in the light, but no one wants the melty kind that drip all over the carpet and are gone after a couple of days inside. Hence the Wizarding World’s choice to use everlasting icicles. Yes, icicles that don’t melt. Hang them from the banisters, hang them from the ceilings, like they do at Hogwarts. Hang them in your foyer, like they do at St. Mungo’s. Everlasting icicles, such a perfect way to decorate for the season.
These decorations are so iconic, Harry and the potters even wrote a song about them: “When I lived at Privet Drive/The only candy that I got were/Icicles that Uncle Vernon plucked/From the gutter above the front door/And when I got to Hogwarts/What did I find/But an everlasting icicle/Oh how happy this made me/It’s just like my favorite boyhood candy.”
Next: 22. Slug Club's Christmas Party
22. Slug Club Christmas Party
Was there really anything more terrible than the Slug Club in Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts? That goes double for the terribleness that was the “exclusive” Slug Club Christmas party that Professor Slughorn threw for his selected club members just before the holiday break. Not only was it awkward and uncomfortable, but the “tent” like decorations made everything feel close and uncomfortable. Ever more terribly, this was yet another example of how elves and fairies are used as slaves by the Wizarding World a House Elves basically function as walking tables, their serving platters are so large, and the fairies are basically living light fixtures.
And just in case Harry would try to get out of it, Slughorn actually scheduled it to suit The Boy Who Lived’s schedule. (Insert all the eyerolls.) With no way out, Harry found himself stuck at the party, wishing he was just about anywhere else–until he overheard Malfoy and Snape plotting…something.
Next: 21. Dobby Presents
21. Dobby Presents
A house elf’s love knows no bounds, especially if that elf is Dobby. Dobby, who disobeyed his master and went around punishing himself in a desperate attempt to save the Boy Who Lived. Despite his “help” sometimes being more “helpy,” in the end Harry did Dobby a solid and made sure that Lucius Malfoy presented the elf with clothes so he could be free.
Well, that sealed the deal. From then on Dobby made sure to remember Harry Potter come Christmas every year. From a pair of mismatched socks “a red left sock with broomstick pattern and green right sock with Snitch pattern,” to a godawful painting of himself, Dobby made sure to try and outdo himself from every year henceforth. Sadly, he didn’t make it for many more Christmases, but Harry made sure that Dobby’s final sacrificed was honored properly, in one of the most moving scenes for an annoying character in the history of film.
Next: 20. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Package
20. Christmas at St Mungos
The fifth Christmas was the first one Harry didn’t spend at Hogwarts, after three years of staying in the dorms over the holidays, and then an enforced year of staying due to the TriWizard Tournament. Instead, now in possession of Sirius Black’s house at Grimmauld Place, he attempted for the first time to go home. It didn’t quite come off as planned. After Arthur Weasley was attacked by Nagini, the entire family ended up at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
St. Mungo’s was a Christmas moment to remember though, and not because of Arthur’s injuries. Readers has always suspected things were bad for poor Neville Longbottom, but it wasn’t until Harry ran into Neville visiting his parents–who had been driven insane by Voldemort–that he realized that there but for the grace of god went he. not only was it a wake up call for Harry–who until then has been sullen and a little bit spoiled, but one for all the readers who had until then written off Neville as fodder for comic relief.
Next: 19. Harry's First Kiss
19. Harry’s First Kiss
Everyone knows how badly Harry’s first crush went. He fell for Cho Chang, but by the time he got his nerve up to ask her to the Yule Ball, she was already going with his rival Cedric Diggory. That only got more complicated as the two of them (Diggory and Chang that is) went steady…and then Cedric was killed by Voldemort, an extra useless person, done in by his own generosity. How does one explain to the girl you love that you just returned with her boyfriend’s body, and he had been killed by Voldemort, when no one will believe you that He-Who-Cannot-Be-Named has returned?
There was no way a relationship between the two of them was ever going to thrive under the weight of all that guilt. But one has to give Cho props for trying. She joined the DA club. She made big goo-goo eyes at Harry, unnerving him at every point. Under the mistletoe, she tried to see what it would be like with the boy she turned down, and date the Boy Who Lived instead of the Boy Who Died. Harry got to discover what kissing was actually like. (Wet.) Perhaps next time though, no one will burst into tears.
Next: 18. JK Rowling’s Christmas Potter Stories: McGonagall
18. JK Rowling’s Christmas Potter Stories: McGonagall
Sprinkled through out the Twelve Days of Harry Potter stories last year from Rowling was one that was devoted to one of my all time favorite characters: Minerva McGonagall. The head of House Gyffindor, played so excellently by Maggie Smith, was always a bit of a mystery. How did she get to be a Hogwarts professor? What was her life like as a young witch? Rowling answered all those questions in this biographical tale.
This was also one of the longest entries from the 12 stories (only the one that filled in Draco’s life story was longer.) It included such details as where Minerva grew up, and her mixed marriage parents (her mother was a witch, and her father didn’t know until they’d been married for a while.) It also recounts her time at Hogwarts, her failed romance with a Muggle boy of her own, and a short lived Ministry career that convinced her to head back to Hogwarts and become a professor. (She does get married too, but later and to a Wizard.) It was clear from the way Rowling wrote about McGonagall that she was a character who was truly cared for. It’s worth reading in full here.
Next: 17. Enchanted Snow
17. Enchanted Snow
I want some! Snow is cold. It’s cold and it melts into puddles which make the floor slippery and slidey. Not in the Wizarding World. They have a much smarter version of snow: enchanted snow. Enchanted snow is this amazing imitation of snow, except it’s warm and dry, like good snow should be. It’s one of the Wizard World’s go to decorations at Christmas time, and is as ubiquitous during the holiday as Christmas lights are in muggle areas.
Every place we go in Rowling’s world at Christmas time has heaps and heaps of enchanted snow all over the place. Hogwarts had it gently fall from the ceiling of the Great Hall. St. Mungo’s puts it all around the foyer. Even Grimmauld Place puts piles of it around the house to make a snowy and pretty vista on the outside, even if the inside is dark magic and evil. Proof that even Dark Wizards and Witchs cannot avoid celebrating the holiday, even if it’s just a little.
Next: 16. First Fantastic Beasts Trailer Dropped!
16. First Fantastic Beasts Trailer Dropped!
It was an early Christmas present for 2015. The first Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them dropped last week. Were fans of the Wizarding World excited to see a brand new trailer to bring them back to the world they loved so much on screen? In the words of Newt Scamander: “Just a smidge!” Even J. K. Rowling was chuffed.
And it gets better. Because though the trailer acted as a Chrstmas present for this year, it will also be a promise of a better present to come in 2016. That’s right. Like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, the movie will be released next year for Christmas. A whole new set of holiday time movies for the Harry Potter crowd–just what the healers ordered for everyone’s Christmas.
Next: 15. Harry Refuses Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour
15. Harry Refuses Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour
Christmas in Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts was probably one of the most traditional experiences of the holiday, but it was also marred by that thing that no one, not wizard, witch or muggle, wants to come up during the dinner time discussion: politics. No one wants elections or opinions of certain candidates or elected officials to come up, let alone actually have one in the house. Unfortunately for the Weasleys, they wound up with one sitting in the parlor.
Poor Percy Weasley, so gullible and foolish, thinking that the Minsiter wanted to come spend Christmas with the Weasleys. All Rufus wanted was to have Harry openly support the Ministry. A ministry it should be noted that had just spent the last year dragging Potter’s name through the mud, and calling him an Undesirable, for fear of the truth of Voldemort’s return getting out. Can you blame Harry for turning him down flat?
Thanks, but no thanks. Pudding?
Next: 14. Christmas at Hogwarts
14. Christmas at Hogwarts
Merry Christmas, merry Christmas
Ring the Hogwarts bell
Merry Christmas, merry Christmas
Cast a Christmas spell
How wondrous the ways of Christmas
Have a merry Christmas day
Move around the sparkling fire
Have a merry Christmas day
Find a broomstick in your stocking
Singing you the magic of this place
Join the owls joyous flocking
On this merry Christmas day
Ding dong, ding dong
Ring the Hogwarts bell
(Ring the Hogwarts bell)
Ding dong, ding dong
Cast a Christmas spell
Ding dong, ding dong
Make the Christmas morning bright
Fly high across the sky
Light the Christmas night
Merry Christmas, merry Christmas
Ring the Hogwarts bell
Merry Christmas, merry Christmas..
Next: 13. Mrs. Weasley's Personalized Sweaters
13. Mrs. Weasley’s Personalized Sweaters
The Weasley sweater, or jumper, as they are calling the UK, is one of the most popular muggle items to knit after the house scarves. It was also perhaps Harry’s first real Christmas present from a loving adult that he ever received. His first year at Hogwarts, Harry got his own personalized sweater from Mrs. Weasley, who included him in her knitting list that year along with all her other children.
Harry would go on to receive one of these sweaters from Mrs. Weasley nearly every Christmas, always knitted by hand and made with lots of love. It should also be noted that Molly Weasley would go out of her way to make the sweaters a bit more extravagant than the others (one even had a Hungarian Horntail knitted into it!), because she knew just how much they meant to the lonely and neglected little boy. No wonder so many muggle fans of the movies want one of their own.
Next: 12. Ron Returns to His Friends
12. Ron Returns to His Friends
Christmas is a time when friends and family gather together. Part of what made Christmas day so sad for Harry and Hermione in their last year was that Ron, under the influence of an evil horcrux, had freaked out and left them. Hermione of course would never admit it, but she had been heart broken by Ron’s betrayal.
The trio were in luck though. Dumbledore had foreseen that one day Ron would leave his friends and need to find a way to return to them again, and left him a deluminator for just such a purpose to help him get back home again. Of course, it wasn’t *quite* the homecoming he’d envisioned.
So it happens a day or two after Christmas. It’s still a present.
Next: 11. JK Rowling’s Christmas Potter Stories: Draco
11. JK Rowling’s Christmas Potter Stories: Draco
Of all of twelve stories that Rowling released over the course of last Christmas, none was more popular than the one for Draco Malfoy. She actually faked us out once during the twelve days, when on the third day of the 12 Christmas Potter Stories, Pottermore’s puzzle led us to Draco’s tale. But that was merely the short version that already existed on the website. it was deliberate to make sure that all of her readers would know what came before.
On Day Eleven, she let fly with the longest of the Christmas stories, a huge additional amount of information on Draco, including, but not limited to, retelling the story from Draco’s perspective, and a bit more information on his upbringing. It also talked about how he grew and changed over the course of the series, and a little bit about the kind of adult he became after the events of 1997 were over. It was the story heard round the internet, with nearly everyone trying to get into Pottermore and solve the puzzle to be able to read it. It just goes to show how popular an anti-hero really is, even if he’s a Slytherin.
Next: 10. Harry Gets the Invisibility Cloak
10. Harry Gets the Invisibility Cloak
When Harry is first gifted the Invisibility Cloak at his first ever real Christmas, it’s a mysterious object given anonymously. Though the books never directly answer who sent it, the assumption is that it was Dumbledore, bequeathing the his father’s legacy, a legacy James Potter may never have known he actually possessed: One of the Deathly Hallows.
The Invisibility Cloak came in handy over the six years Harry spends at Hogwarts, from getting him down to Hogsmede, to spying on Draco and friends in order to learn what was happening in the school, all the way until the end of Harry’s Hogwart’s career. But it’s not until he’s left the institution and is hunting Voldemort’s horcruxes that we learn the truth about this object, or how important it was once to Dumbledore and Grindelwald to posses. For a minute it seems like Harry might abandon his quest and head after the other two of the three Deathly Hallows. Though Harry ultimately rejects the Hallows–in the movie he breaks the Elder Wand, in the books he buries it with Dumbledore’s body– and losing the resurrection stone in the Forbidden Forest, he does in the end keep the cloak. It was his father’s, after all.
Next: 9. The Yule Ball
9. The Yule Ball
Ah yes, one of the most famous Christmas scene in the entire Potter canon. Christmas Year Four was rolled into the TriWizard Tournement, and included one of the hardest things for a young Wizard to go through–their first fancy dress event, complete with dress robes, asking dates to go with you, and public spectacles on the dance floor. In short it was a disaster for Harry and Ron. Hermione on the other hand…
The dream of every nerdy girl come true. And unlike Harry and Ron, Hermione actually liked her date–even if he was sort of a meat head, he was certainly the catch of his school. From their first dance in public while the other students looked on to having a blast dancing to the Weird Sisters, it was a total triumph. No wonder the Potterheads on Twitter holds their own Yule Ball ever year.
Next: 8. Harry Gets the Marauder's Map
8. Harry Gets the Marauder’s Map
It seems like Harry gets all his most important gifts at Christmas. From the Invisibility Cloak to his beloved Firebolt, nearly all the important things turn up at this point in the stories. Though the Maurader’s Map isn’t a proper Christmas gift, the fact that this incredibly useful object turns up just before his third Christmas year makes it part of that season. It’s also perhaps the nicest thing Fred and George ever did for him, giving this tool, which had been so useful for their pranks.
Little did Fred, George or Harry know that the map was only a generation old, and that the Missrs Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were in fact Harry’s own troublemaker father James Potter and his gang of friends: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. It was Harry’s legacy, just as much as the Invisibility Cloak was, and over the rest of Harry’s Hogwart’s career it comes in just as handy. Mischief, let’s manage.
Next: 7. Hogwarts' Christmas Feast
7. Hogwarts’ Christmas Feast
Hogwarts was a magical place for Harry when he arrived his first year. After a terrible childhood, filled with abuse and neglect a magical man on the motorbike took him away, told him he was a wizard, and gave him a new home, new friends and a new world. But nowhere was this more evident that Christmas Year one for Harry. And the centerpiece of it all: the Hogwarts Christmas Feast.
Hogwarts Christmas feast was like a dream to a little boy who had never been given enough to eat. From the hundred roast turkeys to the mountains of potatoes, the huge tureens of peas and large boats of gravy, this is a moment of decadence and riches that Harry could never have imagined only a few brief months ago. It is the first time we see him fat and happy, content in his new world forever. It’s a necessary bonding of boy to world since the next six years will be spent testing that loyalty to the world with Voldemort’s return. Who knew Christmas was so emotionally important?
Next: 6. Santa Claus is a Wizard
6. Santa Claus is a Wizard
This is one of my personal favorites. No, it’s not exactly canon, but that’s only because Rowling hasn’t gotten around to making it so yet. In the Potter Fanon though, they’ve sat down and explained quite a few oddities of the Muggle world that clearly have to to with the Wizarding World. One of those is Santa Claus, or as he’s known at Hogwarts, Professor Kristopher Kringle.
Kringle was a muggle born wizard from the turn of the first millennia. He began the tradition of giving presents to all the muggles across the world as a way to try and put the rest the rivalry between the muggle born and the wizarding types who looked down on them. Though the Wizarding world attempted to erase their presence from Muggle memories, Santa Claus was allowed to remain as a myth, due to the universal nature of his fame. Rudolph is explained as an accidental cross breeding of a phoenix and reindeer, and Kringle ability to deliver all the presents in one night as done via time turner.
His home in the North Pole is currently unplottable.
Next: 5. Christmas At The Burrow
5. Christmas At The Burrow
Perhaps in preparation for the reality that after his sixth year at Hogwarts, Harry would have to spend the next year on the run from Voldemort, Christmas Year six is the one that he spends the happiest–in the Burrow, with the Weasley family and Hermione. Though the Burrow is modest by Wizarding standards, and is in fact a bit lower class in the eyes of some, Harry never stops thinking it brilliant.
Christmas at The Burrow is also the biggest place the books and movie diverge, as it is this Christmas where the Death Eaters attack the Burrow and burn it to the ground. But that doesn’t happen in the books, making it one of the most contested scenes in the entire franchise. Still, Christmas at the Burrow is one of the most beloved additions to the canon that the movies did, since it was something that seemed like it naturally should have always been there.
Next: 4. Showing the Movies at Christmas
4. Showing the Movies at Christmas
All eight Harry Potter movies hadn’t even come out before the Christmas tradition of running them in marathon format during the Christmas holidays took hold. There are so many reasons for this, starting with the early film’s emphasis on the Christmas holidays, to the incredible popularity of the series and television stations wanting to take advantage of kids being home, bored, stuck inside and parents needing family friendly fare that was a little more appropriate for the elementary school crowd than Die Hard.
The channel known as ABC Family quickly became famous in the US for these Potter marathons, and show them as a two day long marathon every year. Across the pond they used to be shown on BBC rival ITV, who did the same sort of marathon every year. This past fall, Sky Movies acquired the rights to the entire franchise in the UK, and made an entire pop up channel dedicated to the movies and showing them 24-7-365. They’re now on demand at Christmas.
Next: 3. Harry Gets His Firebolt
3. Harry Gets His Firebolt
With Harry still in the dark about how his parents died and who betrayed them, Christmas Year three was the most confusing of all of his holidays spent at Hogwarts. Cheif among these confusions was the arrival of one of the most high end expensive broomsticks a third year Quidditch player, who would be attending his first World Cup in only a few month’s time, could want: a Firebolt.
What Harry didn’t know, and neither did anyone else at first, was that this gift was from none other than Sirius Black, who had escaped from Azkaban and was acting as Harry’s rich godfather guardian, spoiling him from afar. This despite the fact that the boy had no idea at that point that Black wasn’t the one who killed his parents. He would learn soon enough at the Shrieking Shack that Black was innocent and it was Peter Pettigrew the whole time. Too bad the Firebolt would end up as firewood only a few years later in the Battle of the Seven Potters. But then again, by that time it had been surpassed by bigger named broomsticks anyway.
Next: 2. Christmas At Godric's Hollow
2. Christmas At Godric’s Hollow
Harry’s final Christmas in the books and the movie series was like a a summary of so many of his Christmas experiences over the years. Harry had always been looking to spend his Christmases with his family, whether it was a substitute family at the Burrow, at Grimmauld Place, in Hogwarts, or sitting in front of the Mirror of Erised. The one thing he had never done though, in any of the movies is actually gone and found the house where he was born, or where his parents were buried.
Harry’s final Christmas eve in the series, he found himself there, with Hermione in Godric’s Hollow, and at his parent’s house, still in the same state as it was the night Voldemort attacked. Nearby, at the graveyard, he found the place where his parents lay buried. It is one of the most moving scenes of the whole franchise, in both the books and the movies, as Harry finally spends the holiday with the two people who gave their lives so he could become the Boy Who Lived. Too bad luring him here also meant he would be attacked by Nagini.
Next: 1. It's the One Time Wizard and Muggle Families Spend Together
1. It’s the One Time Wizard and Muggle Families Spend Together
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Though we never see Harry go home to his own Muggle family, as all the students around him return home, it is obvious. The holidays are the one time all families, of all types, wizarding and non, come together in love and happiness and overlook their differences in lifestyle and clothing and basic computer knowledge to spend it together, giving presents to each other, eating large dinners together, and most of all, spending time as a family and making happy memories.
And seriously, don’t you want to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child just to get more of Hermione and Ron’s parents together for the holidays?
Next: Harry Potter Christmas Movie Marathon Schedule
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas
Ring the Hogwarts bell