The magic of Hogwarts has become so ingrained with the holiday season that networks have taken to playing Harry Potter movies on loop during Christmas time. While it’s true that there are some gorgeous festivities to be had during many of Harry’s holidays, the sad fact is that there are almost as many bleak Christmases that the Boy Who Lived endured over the years.
From joyous times with new family and friends, filled with feasting and thoughtful gifts, to years spent with people who barely bothered to acknowledge his existence, Harry Potter’s Christmas holidays have varied a lot, to say the least.
First Year
Attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry changed Harry’s life forever, and his first Christmas away from the Dursleys was a special one. It not only showed him what Christmas could be like when you’re not around all of that negativity, but it was also his first Christmas with people who actually loved him and wanted to be around him.
Sure, Hermione had to leave for the holiday, but Ron stayed behind, something that many fans point out as one of his finest moments as a friend to Harry. Sure, his parents were visiting his brother, but he could have gone along. Later he would invite Harry home as the two grew closer.
Fourth Year
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there was a lot of evil lurking at Hogwarts, but Harry spent most of his time trying to stay alive during the Triwizard Tournament. That Christmas was a bit awkward, between asking girls out to the Yule Ball and struggling with being famous for yet another reason, but it wasn’t filled with danger and destruction.
Harry’s fourth Christmas at Hogwarts was quite beautiful, despite all of the teen angst, and between his gifts from friends and Dobby the House Elf bestowing a thoughtful pair of socks upon him in one of his sweetest moments ever, Harry had a pretty nice Christmas.
Third Year
Harry’s third Christmas at Hogwarts had the feelings of tension and danger of many other years at the school with Sirius Black “on the loose,” but they were misplaced and Harry was pretty safe this Christmas. He received one of the best gifts of his life, courtesy of said fugitive: a Firebolt.
Harry also got to hang out with the best teacher Hogwarts has ever seen, Remus Lupin, and the Christmas feast had some funny moments, particularly between Professor McGonagall and Professor Trelawney, and the usual Christmas festivities at the castle are as lovely as ever, making every reader wish they could also have a Hogwarts Christmas.
Cursed Child
Most of Harry’s life in the events of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child are less eventful than his youth spent attempting to save the world, but he still has many personal battles to face–including fatherhood. Harry’s not the best father, which should not come as a surprise: he’s had very few role models on which to base his parenting, especially during his formative years, and he pretty much has to wing it.
Holidays during Cursed Child are intense in the Potter home due to the tension between Albus and Harry, and that’s if Albus even wants to come home for the holidays. Given the animosity he harbors for his famous father who just doesn’t get him, Albus would much rather spend his holidays with Scorpius Malfoy than Harry Potter.
Second Year
While Harry got to enjoy many of the delights of his first Christmas at Hogwarts during his second year at school, Christmastime during Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was full of tense feelings and fear. The rumors about the Chamber of Secrets only get worse as people begin to get hurt throughout the book, and Harry’s use of Parseltongue has many students on edge around him, the first time of many times when Harry will feel ostracized and blamed for something he’s not even responsible for doing.
Polyjuice potion is gross and the rumors are nasty, but Harry does manage to have an okay Christmas given that he has friends who love him and a surrogate mother who sends him a family sweater.
Sixth Year
While events during Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince may have been darker than they’d been in The Order of the Phoenix, Harry’s holidays with the Weasleys passed peacefully enough during his sixth year at Hogwarts, save for the gift of maggots courtesy of Kreacher and an unwelcome visit from Rufus Scrimgeour.
It’s not a perfect Christmas, between missing Sirius, Molly crying over Percy’s refusal to come home (except on Ministry business), and Lupin’s stubbornness regarding Tonks’s affection, but it’s one of the most normal Christmases Harry gets to have. There’s holiday music, feasting courtesy of Mrs. Weasley, standard gifts and time spent together with friends and family.
Fifth Year
During Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts, he experienced some terrible drama that no teen should have to endure. He had visions of Arthur Weasley being attacked and thought himself possessed by Voldemort, even blaming himself for Arthur’s injuries. Spending Christmas at the hospital wasn’t a load of laughs, either, especially while everyone worried about Arthur.
This was the year that Dumbledore pretty much ignored Harry, one of the older wizard’s many errors. While he thought himself to be protecting them from Voldemort, he alienated the teen instead. At least Harry got to see his godfather, Lupin and other family at Christmas.
Seventh Year
When Harry should have been finishing off his career as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he instead had to go looking for Horcruxes with very little guidance left by Dumbledore, his mentor who had orchestrated way too much of the young man’s life already and left him unprepared for his terrible fate.
Ron leaves the trio during this time, and all three of them are hungry, cranky and lost without any clues. Even when Harry and Hermione visit Godric’s Hollow and it looks so beautiful at Christmas, they ultimately are attacked by Nagini. It’s a rather harrowing Christmas, to say the least.
Christmas, 1981
The Christmas following the loss of Harry’s parents, James and Lily Potter, was undoubtedly a terrible one for him, as it would be for any baby left without parents and taken in by unwilling relatives who likely do the bare minimum to keep him alive. All of the bonding time that a baby would normally have with parents was likely replaced by intense neglect and isolation.
We could argue that this was Harry’s worst Christmas since he was left an orphan with people who despised him and his kind, but he was just a baby and likely doesn’t remember much of it.
Every Christmas, 1982-1991
Christmases with the Dursleys were all horrible for the Boy Who Lived. Not only was he reminded of how very little he was cared for by his family, but he was given meaningless gifts to add insult to injury. The Dursleys gave him gifts like a 50-pence piece, which was next to nothing, and useful but nonetheless thoughtless and mean things like a single tissue or toothpick.
No gift would almost be better than these, especially while young Harry would watch Dudley open all of his many presents over the years. Birthdays were unfortunately no better for Harry. The Dursleys would bestow a hanger or some of Vernon’s old socks upon the boy during his annual milestone.
