20 of the most cheerful holiday characters ranked

3. Santa Claus

There are a lot of Santa Clauses out there, and that is definitely good for those of us who love Christmas (and Santa). Whether animated or live-action, there seem to be dozens upon dozens of Santas, which makes sense considering how many stories are out there.

And of course, while we have mentioned two other versions of Santa already in this list, we admit that in the third spot, we have to put all of the animated Santas we have ever seen in one category. Mostly because animated Santas have a character all their own.

The thing is that these are the Santas we all think of from our childhood because they are the ones we were introduced to when we were young. In basically every version, he is always jolly and cheerful, with the classic round belly and bushy white beard. He brings presents for us to open on Christmas Day. And no matter what happens, he always delivers his presents.

We love that Santa Claus always arrives in time to make sure that all the good boys and girls get a present to open on Christmas morning. And at the same time, we always think of him as the true vision of Santa, no matter how many live-action takes there are.