History Main / PekingDuckChristmas

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda Holiday Special'' there is a variant since the franchise is set on a [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furry]] version of [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing Ancient China]]. Here, Mr. Ping runs a special Winter Festival party for all the lonely people with nowhere else to go, and pay extra for it.

* Red of ''WebVideo/OverlySarcasticProductions'' grew up in an interfaith household celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah. As such, her family plays with the trope by having a big meal of homemade Chinese food on Christmas day.

* In ''Series/ThePuzzlePlace'''s holiday special, the Jewish Jody cites going out for Chinese food and the movies as her family's typical activities on Christmas Eve.

->'''Sen. Lindsay Graham''': Nah, I'm just asking where you were at on Christmas.\\
'''Solicitor General Elena Kagan''': ''[laughs]'' You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.\\
''[Laughter from crowd]''\\
'''Graham''': Great answer!\\
'''Sen. Patrick Leahy''': I could just see that one coming...\\
'''Sen. Chuck Schumer'''[[note]]Himself Jewish[[/note]]: They're the only places open.

* Subverted in ''Film/TheSantaClause'': After Tim Allen's character burns the Christmas Eve turkey, he tries to take his son to a Japanese restaurant. It's closed, so he takes him to a Denny's, which is filled with Japanese businessmen and fellow fathers who burned the turkey, at least one of them has bandages from hurting himself.

You're Jewish (and not of the [[InformedJudaism Informed]] sect). Or Muslim. Or atheist. Or TheGrinch. Or [[IHaveNoSon you're estranged from your family]], or simply don't have a family. Or you're a hungry Jehovah's Witness looking for a quick bite after the meeting. [[TropeCodifier Or a pack of dogs just ate the massive home-cooked dinner.]] Or you [[LastResortTakeout need a quick solution because]] you either burned the roast when you attempted to use OvenLogic, or it's still frozen solid because you (or [[MenCantKeepHouse your less domesticated spouse]]) failed to take it out of the freezer in a timely manner. Or you're just plain alone and bored. Or you're going to be out of town for several days and don't want to waste the food.

Whatever it is, the usual Christmas festivities are simply not possible for you. It's just another miserable winter's day, except that since you're off work (if you're lucky) you have even less to do than usual.

* Subverted in ''Film/TheSantaClause'': After Tim Allen's character burns the Christmas Eve turkey, he tries to take his son to a Japanese restaurant. It's closed, so he takes him to a Denny's, which is filled with Japanese businessmen and fellow fathers who burned the turkey.

You're Jewish (and not of the [[InformedJudaism Informed]] sect). Or Muslim. Or atheist. Or TheGrinch. Or you're estranged from your family, or simply don't have a family. Or you're a hungry Jehovah's Witness looking for a quick bite after the meeting. [[TropeCodifier Or a pack of dogs just ate the massive home-cooked dinner.]] Or you [[LastResortTakeout need a quick solution because]] you either burned the roast when you attempted to use OvenLogic, or it's still frozen solid because you (or [[MenCantKeepHouse your less domesticated spouse]]) failed to take it out of the freezer in a timely manner. Or you're just plain alone and bored. Or you're going to be out of town for several days and don't want to waste the food.

%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1644964505085200100
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pekingxmas.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/https://media.salon.com/2019/12/chinese-food-on-christmas.jpg Artwork]] by [[https://www.ilanalidagoster.com/ Ilana Lidagoster.]]]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* Referenced in the comic strip ''ComicStrip/StoneSoup'', with a Jewish character saying that the song "Jingle Bells" makes him hungry for Chinese food.
* ''[[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel Holiday Special 2011]]'' has [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Thing]] and [[ComicBook/XMen Kitty Pryde]] get all of the Jewish superheroes together and have a Chinese food feast.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* In the ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}''-''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' fic [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/2810981/chapters/6307352 "To Grandmother's Secret Lab We Go,"]] Nick the Jewish cyborg helicopter complains that a Christmas rescue mission "has totally '''flaked''' with my busy schedule of watching movies and eating virtual lo mein."
* [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/3370274 "Here to Stay is a New Bird"]] (a ''Film/{{Tron}}'' universe fic), Alan and Lora bail on the awful Encom Christmas party and end up in ''"the most traditional restaurant for a Christmas gone wrong – cheap, hole-in-the-wall Chinese"''

* Bostick in ''Film/TheBigYear.''

* In ''Literature/EthanSuspended'' the title character mentions this as a family tradition.
* In ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'', while on his way to a Christmas party, one of Patrick Bateman's associates alarms him of the growing influence of Japan and Japanese business in America. After this, Bateman feels compelled to murder the first Japanese bike messenger he sees and dump food his victim was carrying on top of his body, only to discover in doing so that his victim was actually Chinese, delivering food to a certain Sally Rubinstein.

* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' TV Funhouse sketch/song "Christmas for the Jews."
-->''They can finally see ''Film/{{King Kong| 2005}}'' without waiting in line\\
They can eat in Chinatown and drink their sweet-ass wine''

* An episode of ''Series/TheBobNewhartShow'' has a Thanksgiving variant of this, with Emily leaving town to visit her parents and Bob staying home to spend the holiday getting plastered and ordering moo goo gai pan with Jerry, Howard, and Mr. Carlin. ("More goo to go!")
* ''Series/HeadOfTheClass'' also has a Thanksgiving version, with Mr. Moore (the teacher) spending the holiday alone and the usually-antagonistic Dr. Samuels (the principal) escaping his in-laws. They happen to choose the same Chinese restaurant to go to, and bond.
* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'': Not the holiday precisely, but a similar idea. The setting has two PunnyName restaurants. One is called "Skip Church's" and is a Sunday Brunch place where Christians go in lieu of church. The other is "Miss Temple's", a Chinese restaurant frequented by Jews in lieu of synagogue.
* The main family of ''Out of Practice'' order Chinese food on Thanksgiving when their turkey accidentally goes out the window. This ends in a bit of a BrickJoke when the food arrives and the man delivering it complains that his bike hit a turkey in the road.

* An early example in ''Film/TheMiracleOfTheBells''. A press agent meets a young actress on Christmas Eve who's far away from friends and family, and offers to spend the evening with her. Naturally, the only place open is a Chinese restaurant, and they turn out to be the only two customers, so the [[MagicalAsian the kindly and wise proprietor]] welcomes them in and offers them sage advice and astonishingly appropriate fortune cookies.
* Like many tropes about Jewish families, this one showed up in ''Series/BrooklynBridge''. The Berger/Silver family had Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant and the grandfather, utterly unsure of what blessing to say over the meal, settles for "''Boruch ata...'' Chinese food."

* Straight No Chaser's "Christmas Can-Can". In the second verse one singer complains, "It's not fair if you're Jewish," and later adds, "I'm gonna get some Chinese food."

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* In ''Series/ThePuzzlePlace'''s holiday special, the Jewish Jody cites going out for Chinese food and the movies as her family's typical activities on Christmas Eve.
[[/folder]]

* In the ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'' parody of ''Film/AChristmasStory'', the Dewclaws [[http://www.kevinandkell.com/2009/kk1224.html go to a restaurant]] run by [[NationalAnimalStereotypes pandas]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda Holiday Special'' there is a variant since the franchise is set on a [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furry]] version of [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing Ancient China]]. Here, Mr. Ping runs a special Winter Festival party for all the lonely people with nowhere else to go, and pay extra for it.
* Implied in ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades''. Christmas comes and most of the Joes aren't in the Christmas spirit. Nicky Lee, a.k.a. Tunnel Rat explains his feelings toward Christmas to the other Joes by saying his family owned a Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ArthursPerfectChristmas'', Francine and her family are shown having takeout Chinese for dinner after celebrating the last night of Hanukkah the night before. When she and Muffy later reconcile after an earlier fight, Francine's family invites Muffy and her parents to the movies. Also Brain and his family are still at work at the ice cream shop because they celebrate Kwanzaa.
* Happens at the end of ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'''s ChristmasEpisode when most of the cast ends up snowed in at the mall during a blizzard.

* In [[https://notalwaysright.com/one-good-takeout-deserves-another/ this]] Website/NotAlwaysRight story, a group of Chinese-Americans aware of this trope make a tradition out of visiting a Kosher deli-style restaurant on Christmas to "return the favor".

* [[http://notalwaysright.com/one-good-takeout-deserves-another/15583 Discussed and inverted here]] on Website/NotAlwaysRight, when a group of Chinese-Americans decide to return the favor by going to a Jewish deli for lunch on Christmas. They become regular customers.

[[folder: Fanfiction]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder:Film]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/https://media.salon.com/2019/12/chinese-food-on-christmas.jpg Artwork]] by [[https://www.ilanalidagoster.com/ Ilana Lidagoster]].]]

[[caption-width-right:[[https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/https://media.salon.com/2019/12/chinese-food-on-christmas.jpg Artwork]] by [[https://www.ilanalidagoster.com/ Ilana Lidagoster]].]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/AChristmasStory https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chinese-turkey_1096.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The Parkers eat "Chinese turkey."]]

-->'''Robin:''' And if he was Jewish, and many of his Disciples were Jewish, for the Last Supper, would they not have gone out for Chinese? I think so. (''in Chinese accent'') "Welcome to Yahweh. Hold on, no service, no sandal, okay, you can come in now. Hold on, you have twelve. All I got is 2 tables of six right now. They're not together... Wait a minute, I got one big table by the window, but you all have to face this way. All right. You are glowing, so I guess we don't need that lamp, that's very nice! And you've just turned a Szechuan chicken into a live chicken, you're very good!"

You're Jewish (and not of the [[InformedJudaism Informed]] sect). Or Muslim. Or atheist. Or TheGrinch. Or you're estranged from your family, or simply don't have a family. Or you're a hungry Jehovah's Witness looking for a quick bite after the meeting. [[TropeCodifier Or a pack of dogs just ate the massive home-cooked dinner.]] Or you [[LastResortTakeout need a quick solution because]] you either burned the roast when you attempted to use OvenLogic, or it's still frozen solid because you (or [[MenCantKeepHouse your less domesticated spouse]]) failed to take it out of the freezer in a timely manner. Or you're just plain alone and bored. Whatever it is, the usual Christmas festivities are simply not possible for you. It's just another miserable winter's day, except that since you're off work (if you're lucky) you have even less to do than usual.

->'''Sen. [[GenderBlenderName Lindsey]] Graham (R-SC)''': Christmas Day bomber. Where were you at on Christmas Day?\\
'''Solicitor General and [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCourts Supreme Court]] nominee Elena Kagan''': Senator... I assume the question you mean is whether a person who's apprehended in the United States[[note]]Referencing the case of the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_Farouk_Abdulmutallab Underwear Bomber]]", who had been caught trying to bring down a plane with plastic explosives hidden in his underpants the previous Christmas[[/note]]--\\
'''Graham''': ''(interrupting)'' Nah, I'm just asking where you were at on Christmas.\\
'''Kagan''': ''(laughs)'' [[https://youtu.be/Tku61sKhPGo?t=29s You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.]]\\
''(Laughter from crowd)''\\

'''Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)''': I could just see that one coming...\\
'''Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)'''[[note]]Himself Jewish[[/note]]: They're the only places open.
-->-- Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, 2010.

You're Jewish (and not of the [[InformedJudaism Informed]] sect). Or Muslim. Or atheist. Or TheGrinch. Or you're estranged from your family, or simply don't have a family. Or you're a hungry Jehovah's Witness looking for a quick bite after the meeting. [[TropeCodifier Or a pack of dogs just ate the massive home-cooked dinner.]] Or you either burned the roast when you attempted to use OvenLogic, or it's still frozen solid because you (or [[MenCantKeepHouse your less domesticated spouse]]) failed to take it out of the freezer in a timely manner. Or you're just plain alone and bored. Whatever it is, the usual Christmas festivities are simply not possible for you. It's just another miserable winter's day, except that since you're off work (if you're lucky) you have even less to do than usual.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' Christmas special, Francine and her family are shown having takeout Chinese for dinner after celebrating the last night of Hanukkah the night before. When she and Muffy later reconcile after an earlier fight, Francine's family invites Muffy and her parents to the movies. Also Brain and his family are still at work at the ice cream shop because they celebrate Kwanzaa.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' Christmas special, Francine and her family are shown having takeout Chinese for dinner after celebrating the last night of Hanukkah the night before. When she and Muffy later reconcile after an earlier fight, Francine's family invites Muffy and her parents to the movies.