History Main / CrappyHolidays

* On ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', JD explains that one of the worst nights of the year to be "on call" is Christmas Eve. Turk starts out all excited about being on call, but then [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs and he has to deal with]] the aftermath of drunk drivers, drug overdoses, DomesticAbuse against both women and children, crazed shoppers, drive-by shootings, burns and amputations. By the end of the night, he is exhausted and burned out. [[spoiler: [[AwayInAManger Helping a teenage girl with a high-risk delivery in a nearby park]] helps him get back in the Christmas spirit.]]

* On ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', JD explains that one of the worst nights of the year to be "on call" is Christmas Eve. Turk starts out all excited about being on call, but then [[RealityEnsues he has to deal with]] the aftermath of drunk drivers, drug overdoses, DomesticAbuse against both women and children, crazed shoppers, drive-by shootings, burns and amputations. By the end of the night, he is exhausted and burned out. [[spoiler: [[AwayInAManger Helping a teenage girl with a high-risk delivery in a nearby park]] helps him get back in the Christmas spirit.]]

* There's a scene in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' where the wizards at Unseen University start thinking back on all the things that bug them about [[YouMeanXmas Hogswatch]], including disappointing presents, family feuds cropping up, and flaming rows over board games.

* Taken to a massive extreme in ''Leonardo #1'' of the original Mirage ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', and its followup issue. The Turtles are preparing for Christmas at April's while Leonardo is out training by himself. Shots of Leo's solitary training are interspersed with Mikey, Raph, and Don decorating, wrapping gifts and cooking. Unbeknownst to them, Leonardo is ambushed by the Foot, and gets a very nasty Christmas surprise; The Shredder is ALIVE, and beats him half to death, before throwing him through April's window. The next issue is spent trying desperately to flee the Foot as April's store burns down, and the Turtles spend the following year in exile trying to heal from the brutal defeat.

** Poor Literature/HerculePoirot can't even ''celebrate Christmas'' without having to solve a murder mystery ("Hercule Poirot's Christmas").

Sometimes associated with HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday. See also TheGrinch for characters who openly hate Christmas in particular, ValentinesDayVitriol for the Valentine's Day version, and AntiChristmasSong for an entire musical genre built around the Yuletide form of this.

* ''Series/LondonsBurning'': Like most firefighters, Station Officer Tate is ''not'' a fan of Guy Fawkes Night. The VerySpecialEpisode set on that particular holiday thoroughly demonstrates why.

* There's a scene in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'' where the wizards at Unseen University start thinking back on all the things that bug them about [[YouMeanXmas Hogswatch]], including disappointing presents, family feuds cropping up, and flaming rows over board games.

* Dallon Weeks (frontman of Music/IDontKnowHowButTheyFoundMe, alumnus of Music/TheBrobecks and Music/PanicAtTheDisco) often makes songs about this, but it qualifies less for [[AntiChristmasSong Anti-Christmas Song]]s as he tends to actually revere the holidays; it's just the circumstances they highlight that are crappy, such as in "Christmas Drag" (which is him [[BreakupSong reminiscing over an ended relationship]]) and "Oh Noel" (detailing a past lover [[TraumaCongaLine whose life fell apart]], possibly ending with her death around the holidays).

->''It's the least wonderful time of the year!''\\
''"I HATE WORKING CHRISTMAS! I HATE WORKING CHRISTMAS! STUPID, ANNOYING, PUSHY, LAST-MINUTE CUSTOMERS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"''
-->-- '''Jen''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Sixteen}}'', "Deck the Mall"

This could also be reminiscence, a frequent subversion of the supposedly joyful holiday atmosphere, when characters reflect on how [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin crappy their holidays are]]. While Christmas is, naturally, the most common venue for this trope (enough to [[TwistedChristmas qualify as a subtrope]]), [[UsefulNotes/ThanksgivingDay Thanksgiving]] is also a frequent target in the U.S. This may be because the latter brings families together but is also completely secular, which is perfect for the mood to be ruined by some argument between people who don't share the same beliefs, someone coming out of the closet, etc.

* There's a Target commercial wherein a cheerful hausfrau type is decorating cakes and describing how much she looks forward to the Black Friday sale, and then she goes on to describe her other holiday preparations, culminating in declaring, "I haven't slept for THREE DAYS!" (cue [[LaughingMad insane laughter]])

* ''Home for the Holidays'' has Holly Hunter going home to spend Thanksgiving with her dysfunctional family. After getting fired from her job.

Whether it be due to trying to make everything perfect for the family, or family just coming to you to ruin your day, or braving the long, savage lines in stores and still not getting the perfect gift, or bad memories associated with the holiday, or just never having the time to rest, the difficulty of keeping things in control as the chaos of the holidays approach makes you think they'd be more aptly named "Hellidays". Often, to add insult to injury, freak weather or other [[DiabolusExMachina acts of "God"]] will compound the hardship.

* A ''MAD Magazine'' satire of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" showed that if modern Christmases have become crappy for the people, it's become even worse for Santa: no reindeer for his sleigh, no elves to make the toys, no workshop to make the toys due to a lack of insurance and a tax audit, people shooting at him with their guns, irradiation from nuclear plants, among other things. At the end of the satire, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Santa decides that he's going to retire and is seen riding off on his rocket-powered sleigh, kicking the sack of toys off it in disgust.]]

* A ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' Christmas special had him looking forward to a quiet holiday with his family, ruined when he has a meltdown over it becoming a big impromptu free-for-all party. Donkey later reassures him that this kind of tension is standard holiday fare, telling him "Like my momma always said, 'It ain't Christmas 'till somebody cries!'"

** Lampshaded by the Doctor in "The Impossible Planet" when the Doctor and Ida are exploring below the surface of Krop Tor:
-->"Oh, come on, "[[TemptingFate no turning back]]"? That's almost as bad as "[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong nothing can possibly go wrong]]" or "[[TwistedChristmas this is gonna be the best Christmas]] [[Series/EastEnders Walford's]] ever had."

This could also be reminiscence, a frequent subversion of the supposedly joyful holiday atmosphere, when characters reflect on how [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin crappy their holidays]] are. While Christmas is, naturally, the most common venue for this trope (enough to [[TwistedChristmas qualify as a subtrope]]), [[UsefulNotes/ThanksgivingDay Thanksgiving]] is also a frequent target in the U.S. This may be because the latter brings families together but is also completely secular, which is perfect for the mood to be ruined by some argument between people who don't share the same beliefs, someone coming out of the closet, etc.

* There's a Target commercial wherein a cheerful hausfrau type is decorating cakes, and describing how much she looks forward to the Black Friday sale, and then she goes on to describe her other holiday preparations, culminating in declaring, "I haven't slept for THREE DAYS!" (cue [[LaughingMad insane laughter]])

* ''Anime/KiraKiraPrecureALaMode'': It seems to be a nice Christmas party at the Kira Kira Patisserie, until Yukari announces that she's going to leave the patisserie to study abroad. Even though Ichika doesn't hold Yukari back on her decision, she, Himari, Aoi and Pekorin all cry at the end of the episode.[[note]]And it looks like she was true to her word. Since in episode 49, a year has taken place after the final battle and Yukari was coming back to visit Ichika and the others.[[/note]]
* ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'': Which was supposed to be a good Christmas for [[{{Tsundere}} Taiga Aisaka]] and [[UnluckyEverydude Ryuuji Takasu]] ended badly for both of them. After surprising a sad and lonely Taiga with a giant teddy bear being Santa Claus, both Taiga and Ryuuji went happy. Then Ryuuji leaves to talk Minori Kushieda to declare his feelings for her. Once he left, Taiga realized [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove she loved Ryuuji all the time]] and runs crying and [[SayMyName screaming his name]] just to find he's already gone. And Ryuuji? He was rejected by Minori before he said a word, getting sat in the middle of the night until dawn ([[ImColdSoCold IN WINTER]]) and being hospitalized for the rest of the year.[[note]]''Tortadora! Portable'' visual novel drives this stuation further and starts with an amnesiac Ryuuji awaking in the hospital after a coma with no memories of anything. A direct consequence of almost dying of hypothermia on Christmas Eve. Poor Ryuuji...[[/note]]

* Taken to a massive extreme in ''Leonardo #1'' of the original Mirage ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', and its followup issue. The Turtles are preparing for Christmas at April's while Leonardo is out training by himself. Shots of Leo's solitary training are interspersed with Mikey, Raph and Don decorating, wrapping gifts and cooking. Unbeknownst to them, Leonardo is ambushed by the Foot, and gets a very nasty Christmas surprise; The Shredder is ALIVE, and beats him half to death, before throwing him through April's window. The next issue is spent trying desperately to flee the Foot as April's store burns down, and the Turtles spend the following year in exile trying to heal from the brutal defeat.

* Subverted in ''Film/{{Nothing like the Holidays}}''. Yes the father's looking-at-women causes some strife, and threatens the family's holiday season, but for the most part, they manage to hold through. Of course through shootings too.

* ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas''. The main character hates Christmas so much he decides to ruin it for everyone else. [[spoiler:He fails, and in that failure he finds the true meaning of the holiday.]]

** "The Feast of Steven", which aired at Christmas 1965, averts this trope. At the time, the series was mid-way through the twelve-part epic "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan]]", but the ongoing storyline was put on hold for a week (though it is mentioned in passing) in favour of a light-hearted romp, which involves the Doctor, Steven and Sara becoming caught up in a series of misunderstandings in both contemporary England and 1920s Hollywood. The scenes set in England take place at Christmas and the episode ends with the Doctor saying:

* Most holiday episodes of ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' involve some kind of holiday-specific disaster occurring. Sabrina spent most major holidays fixing the holiday related problems she had created. Notable examples include taking over delivery of Christmas presents after injuring Santa Claus, trying to prevent Christmas from being erased as a holiday, rounding up a bunch of monsters she'd recruited for a Halloween party, and dealing with a bunch of zombies she had inadvertently summoned to Westbridge.

** His friend and confidante, Inspector Japp, spends the holiday with his family, which he ''dreads''. Solving a murder is an improvement for him.

* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', both Helga and Arnold complain on how their families ruin the Thanksgiving Day, and decide to leave their homes and go to Mr. Simmons' house expecting him to have a perfect celebration. It turns out his Thanksgiving Day is even worse.

** Played with in the episode "A Very Crappy Christmas", which switches around the normal cliches of this trope (the importance of togetherness VS holiday commercialism), where people, fed up with stress and credit card bills, are abandoning the commercial trappings of Christmas in favor of just spending time with family. However, this is ''disastrous'' for both the towns economy and for the kids, who look forward to getting christmas gifts all year.

* The Nickelodeon ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' Christmas episode, "Doug's Christmas Story". Right near Christmas, Porkchop bites Beebe's leg (In order to get her away from thin ice when they were ice skating), injuring her. So Bill Bluff begins pressing charges against Porkchop for injuring his daughter, and he's taken to the pound, with a possible chance of being put to sleep. Interestingly, [[WhamEpisode it's the darkest episode of the Nickelodeon series]].

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad''. Stan and Francine have a huge argument about how to redecorate the kitchen, and end up separating. They also split the whole house down the middle with a brick wall. The rest of the family alternates between them like a divorced couple. This leads to one character having a loving, warm holiday, while the other has a lonely, sad holiday. It then turns out they just did the whole thing in a week to make each other jealous.
* Christmas in WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}} is this for Dethklok. Let's go down the list: first off, Christmas just isn't brutal. Then they're forced to spend time with their mothers, and keep said mothers from getting drunk. Murderface is trying to put on a ChristmasSpecial but no one will do it because the rest of Dethklok isn't on board, leaving his only sponsor the Christian Church. Toki tries to celebrate Christmas but gets his Christmas presents hocked by Dr. Rockzo to fuel his cocaine habit. The mothers end up finding the booze and crashing Murderface's Christmas special, leading to Rockzo getting a handjob from Serveta, traumatizing Skwisgaar, and Toki unable to exact revenge on Rockzo because a drunk Stella knocked a cross into him, pinning him to the floor. Murderface ends up punched by Nathan for being sponsored by the church, then beaten up by the preacher for the ruined special.

Sometimes associated with HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday. See also TheGrinch for characters who openly hate Christmas in particular, and AntiChristmasSong for an entire musical genre built around the Yuletide form of this.

* While ''any'' holiday has the potential to be this in ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', Valentine's Day in particular tends to be a miserable occasion for [[ButtMonkey Charlie Brown]] each year. As he memorably puts it in one strip, "I ''know'' nobody likes me. Why do we have to have a Valentine's Day to ''emphasize'' it?"

--->"Who am I kidding? My Christmases are always like this."

* Creator/RobertBenchley's essay "[[http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/benchchristmas.htm Christmas in the Afternoon (Done in the Manner, If Not the Spirit, of Dickens)]]" is a fine example of the trope.

** From the viewer's perspective, most of the Christmas specials are pretty grim, in general, even if they do have sillier premises than the usual episode. The grimmest of the lot would likely tie between "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned Voyage of the Damned]]" and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], with the most comic being "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E14TheNextDoctor The Next Doctor]]" ([[HumongousMecha GIANT]] ''[[SteamPunk STEAMPUNK]]'' [[RuleOfCool CYBERMAN]]).

** Christmas became so notorious for bad things happening — invasions, killer robot Santas and so on — that London is eventually evacuated beforehand (save for the Queen and Wilfred Mott). Good thing too, because the ''Titanic'' is almost dropped from orbit onto the city. Also, in the same episode, the Doctor lampshades this trope: