# What do you watch on Christmas Day in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760 "2010-08-19T18:02:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/61 "2010-08-22T03:07:19Z")
For me, it’s always been the Alastair Sim version of **A Christmas Carol**. And our new tradition (as of the past couple of years) is a viewing of **Extras: The Extra Special Christmas Special**. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/62 "2010-08-22T05:13:53Z")
No TV or movies on Christmas. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/63 "2010-08-22T05:23:05Z")
about 4 years ago one of my fraternity brothers mentioned that his family watched **Jingle All The Way** one year since it was one of the presents. then it stuck as a tradition. Now practically every member of my house has taken that tradition back home with him. I’m sure as heck going to keep it going as a tradition for my family. HE’S IN MY HOUSE, EATING MY COOKIES!? it’s a good excuse to watch phil hartman (to a lesser extent Arnold, and to an even lesser extent Sinbad) if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/64 "2010-08-22T17:07:28Z")
If I’m spending the day surrounded by family celebrating the birth of the prince of peace I’m usually watching my back. Quite a few Americans either watch some sort of sporting event (College football usually) or go out to the movies. Christmas is day for big movie releases for the studios. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/65 "2010-08-22T17:46:39Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The only U.S. Christmas tradition that doesn’t have any real equivalent in the U.K. is that of putting up big lighted Christmas displays on one’s lawn for several weeks around Christmas If only this were still true, **Wendell**. There’s nothing that gladdens the heart more than a ten-foot-tall plastic snowman in someone’s garden! At the end of November! Ho Ho Ho. Those shitty flashing lights really set the whole ensemble off, and why not have fake snow and a unutterably fucking terrible reindeer on the roof, you useless fucking excuse for a human being. Wacky, _It’s Christmas_ DIE DIE DIE . I have no strong opinions about this. Well, I suppose I do. A really nice trend I think is for people who have a tree or a bush in the garden and thread it with white lights. That can be pretty magical, and just generally pretty. Gigantic flashing Santa can fuck off though. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/66 "2010-08-22T17:53:36Z")
I hope I don’t have to say that the venom in my previous post is not directed at **Wendell Wagner** at all. Reading it back to myself I thought I’d better clarify. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/67 "2010-08-22T17:56:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > I used to manage a movie theater, so had to work holidays all the time. I never ceased to be amazed by patrons who would approach me, saying sympathetically (but unironically) how tough it must be for me to have to work on the holiday. > > Not surprising at all, to me. Even if it’s not a big deal for you, surely you realize that it’s a big deal for most folks. So someone who sees you working assumes that you’d rather not, since most people wouldn’t, and thus feels sympathy for you. I think the point is that they didn’t have enough sympathy to stay at home. It’s like ‘sorry you’re stuck here, but on the other hand, I’m really glad you’re here running this theater.’ Not that one family deciding not to go out on Christmas would cause companies to close and let people have the day off, but still. Sometimes we watch a bit of the dog show that comes on, but most of Christmas is usually spent making rounds to different parties. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/68 "2010-08-22T18:18:33Z")
I’ve seen plenty of Advent calendars (as well as other Advent traditions, like the Advent wreath and the Advent chain) in the US, and didn’t even realize that they were British. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/69 "2010-08-22T18:38:28Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > It seems to me that there are more Christmas traditions in the U.K. than in the U.S. Most of the Christmas traditions are shared of course, but there are a number that are little known in the U.S. but are reasonably well known in the U.K. Perhaps, as touched on earlier, it’s because we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Britain, so our Christmases have to do double duty, so to speak, and combine all the traditions and festivities that in the US are divided between the two holidays. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/70 "2010-08-22T20:56:23Z")
It was my observation while living in the U.K. that advent calendars are distinctly more common there than in the U.S., although as Chronos points out, they are known in the U.S. Doing a little Googling it appears that advent calendars are well known over much of Europe. Does anyone have any statistics (not anecdotes) about the relative commonness of advent calendars in the U.S. and the U.K.? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/71 "2010-08-22T22:25:18Z")
I thought the advent wreath with candles was a Roman Catholic thing. (that’s why it’s popular all over Europe) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/72 "2010-08-22T22:35:37Z")
I remember reading that in the UK they aired **The Great Escape** every Christmas. Do they still do that? ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/73 "2010-08-22T23:19:43Z")
We always had an Advent calendar in school ( mid 50 s to mid 60 s Catholic grammar school.) ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/74 "2010-08-22T23:45:18Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I thought the advent wreath with candles was a Roman Catholic thing. (that’s why it’s popular all over Europe) It’s used in Lutheran countries too, I know. Advent calendars are huge in Scandinavia. You also get these great advent candles–tall tapers that are marked off into 24 segments and you burn a little each day. I need to order some more of those. I love advent calendars! And in Denmark, they have an advent TV show with an episode every night… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/75 "2010-08-23T00:42:15Z")
> [@](#): > > You also get these great advent candles–tall tapers that are marked off into 24 segments and you burn a little each day. I need to order some more of those. I imagine that the number of segments varies from year to year? Or is advent demarcated differently there? Among Catholics in the US, Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and thus can be anywhere from 22 to 28 days long. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/76 "2010-08-23T00:48:55Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I thought the advent wreath with candles was a Roman Catholic thing. (that’s why it’s popular all over Europe) I’ve never seen such a thing in Orthodox countries. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/77 "2010-08-23T01:20:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > You also get these great advent candles–tall tapers that are marked off into 24 segments and you burn a little each day. I need to order some more of those. > > I imagine that the number of segments varies from year to year? Or is advent demarcated differently there? > > Among Catholics in the US, Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and thus can be anywhere from 22 to 28 days long. This would be the kind of advent calendar that starts on 12/1 and goes to 12/24. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/78 "2010-08-24T11:26:37Z")
[quote=“Kyla, post:47, topic:550760”] > [@Ximenean](#): > > Jesus christ, there’s actually a law about it? I don’t get why whether or not someone wants to open their store is the government’s business. > > _shrug_ Oh well, not my problem. It’s designed to protect the retail workers, so their bosses can’t force them to work on an important family day. Chalk it up to a cultural difference - we don’t get why your government lets the bosses treat people like shit, so… ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760/79 "2010-08-24T11:34:41Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I remember reading that in the UK they aired **The Great Escape** every Christmas. Do they still do that? I think that’s an apocryphal story. There was never a cast-iron tradition that certain movies are always shown at Christmas, it just feels like it sometimes (The Wizard of Oz and the Sound of Music would fit into this tale as well). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-watch-on-christmas-day-in-the-us/550760.md?page=3)