WHO Has SAVED Christmas? Also, who HASN'T, but SHOULD?

When one takes a moment to contemplate how many [del]franchised[/del] beloved TV and movie characters have saved Christmas over the years, one might be forgiven for thinking it’s a wonder Santa Claus ever managed to get out of bed and down to the workshop every morning without impaling himself on a bannister.

Just googling the term “saves Christmas,” I am informed that Christmas has been saved by Elmo the red toddler Muppet, Ernest P. Worrell, Tomato the Tow Truck from Cars, a talking dog named Hercules (who probably doesn’t count as beloved just yet), Steven Colbert, and somebody named NODDY.

I did some contemplation of that nature last night while I was at work (performing tasks that were not impeded by such wool-gathering, I assure you). It occurred to me to wonder if by any chance Christmas has been saved more than 2012 times (which, if this paradoxical number were achieved, would make Santa Claus the biggest goldbricker in history).

It’s been saved by Rudolph, of course, as well as by a skeptical mouse who had an eleventh-hour change of heart, Mrs. Santa Claus (at least twice, IIRC), Dragnet’s Sgt. Joe Friday, The Grinch, the heavy metal musical combo known as KISS, Lizzie McGuire, Brian and Stewie Griffin, Billy and Mandy, the Flintstones (I never quite understood how that came about), and Garfield the Cat.

Who else?
And for extra fun, whom would you like to nominate to ALSO save Christmas?

I was going to go with Darth Vader, but I suddenly remembered that last week in the Hallmark Store, I saw these guys, so i decided I’d let the palpitations subside before I nominate any Sith Lords.

So, I’ll just say Sonny Wortzik and Sal Naturile* from Dog Day Afternoon.

*I know, some of you will quibble that Sal got his brains blown out in the getaway limo by the FBI. To which I respond: It’s a Christmas MIRACLE!!!

Hanukkah Harry. “On Moishe! On Herschel! On Shlomo!”

The FOX network thinks that it’s saving Christmas all on its own.

The Ultimate Warrior?

I came here to say Fred Flintstone, but as usual my witty repartee is taken: in the OP no less.

This year, maybe Gary Bettman gets to save Christmas.

Seconded!

Didn’t Jack Skellington save Christmas after almost screwing it up?

To be fair, the Grinch first stole Christmas, so he was only undoing what he had done. So he doesn’t really count.

Yep. That’s the one I was going to post.

Mythbusters. I want to see them prove reindeer can fly and have red noses that glow, and that santa can deliver all the toys, and elves and stuff.

pouts

NORAD. Maybe they didn’t technically save Christmas, but they didn’t identify Santa as a hostile and blow him out of the sky, so that counts for something.

Malcolm Reynolds and Jayne Cobb, in The Firefly Christmas Special.

Tyrion Lannister, in How the Imp Saved Christmas, or: Winter is Here.

Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, in Blue Christmas.

Well, Homer Simpson saved three Christmases versus eight he ruined … two were kind of a draw…

Keep in mind that some of the ones you mentioned - e.g. Joe Friday and “the skeptical mouse who had an eleventh-hour change of heart” - only saved Christmas for certain people, not for the entire planet. (Also, it’s “Tow Mater”, not “Tomato”.)

Here are a few more:
The Powerpuff Girls
Robot XJ-9 (aka Jenny) from My Life as a Teenage Robot.
CatDog (although with an asterisk, as they were the ones that caused it to need saving in the first place)

Ebenezeer Scrooge.

According to Homer Simpson "Now, let’s see… this’ll make three Christmases I saved versus eight I ruined… two were kind of a draw… "

I can’t prove it, but I like to imagine Christmas Ape saved Christmas.

Buzzsaw Louie did in Veggie Tales.

Abraham Lincoln should save Christmas.

So should PSY. And Kobayashi - in a Robert Smigel cartoon.

I wanna see Robocop save Christmas from OCPs corporate greed.

Or even better, Breakin’ 3: Electric Christmas Lights.

The Doctor?

Every Christmas he saves the holiday for an individual, family, or entire planet.
On edit I see that you asked for people who have not saved Christmas but should.

There will never be a saving-Christmas story to top Weed Delivery Guy Saves Christmas. I read it every holiday season and it never fails to warm my heart.

It’s just begging for a movie or TV adaptation.

Are we counting holidays that aren’t actually Christmas but which are a clear analogue? Because Death has saved Hogswatch (and no, it wasn’t his doing that it needed saving).

And of course, Santa himself has saved Christmas numerous times.