Basic Trope: An amazing stroke of good luck at or around Christmas.
- Straight: Days before Christmas, Bob gets fired over a misunderstanding. He has little in savings (thanks to all the Christmas-related purchases he made late November through December), and the claim he filed for unemployment was denied. He is one missed rent payment away from living out of his car (along with Alice, the kids, and the dog). On Christmas Eve, he opens his bank account and sees that he has thousands of dollars that weren't there before. It turns out that Alice called the neighbors and explained the situation, and they gave Alice and Bob money. And later that day, Bob's former boss comes by to apologize and offer him his old job back.
- Exaggerated: The money is from the mysterious new neighbor, Mr. Kringle, who offers Bob a new job that he can do on his computer.
- Downplayed: On the way home from the grocery store, Alice loses the ham to a stray dog. She is able to go back to the store and get the last ham.
- Justified: In the world, Christmas is universally known as a day of good luck.
- Inverted: Right on Christmas, Bob gets fired by his boss, Mr. Grynch, Alice files for divorce, the electricity gets cut off, and Bob gets evicted.
- Subverted: Alice and Bob live in a poor community (such as a mobile-home park or the Wrong Side of the Tracks), so the assistance doesn't come in the form of money.
- Double Subverted: However, the neighbors bring over casseroles, as well as tips and networking info ("I hear Trope Co Inc. is hiring.") Bob sends his resume over to one of the places, is called right away for an interview, and hired on the spot. He'll start the day after Christmas, and the new job offers twice as much money as he was making before, plus a much better benefits package.
- Parodied: On Christmas, Bob bumps into someone. He thinks it is the end of the world, but when the person he bumped into says that he wasn't hurt, Bob acts like the world has been saved and praises Santa Claus.
- Zig Zagged: Bob loses his job with T-minus three days until Christmas, but he gets a new one before he's even had a chance to tell Alice he's lost his job. Meanwhile, the Littlest Cancer Patient dies, but the teenage girl suffering from Victorian Novel Disease in the next bed miraculously gets better.
- Averted: No one has any serious problems in-story that would need fixing.
- Enforced:
- The storyboard wants to make a cheerful Christmas Episode that gives the viewer warm feelings.
- The author wants to explain the True Meaning of Christmas.
- Lampshaded: "It's Christmas. Something good must happen today."
- Invoked: Bob was already going through some financial rough times, and to top it off, he gets fired.
- Exploited: A charity convinces Bob to tell his story to endorse donations short before Christmas.
- Defied:
- Bob buckles down, and sends out waves of applications right away. He soon gets an interview, and gets hired.
- The Littlest Cancer Patient, despite the very best efforts of his doctors and nurses, and all the thoughts and prayers from his community, still dies.
- Discussed: Bob tells the story about how he found some luck again on Christmas to Charlie, who is down on his luck short before Christmas and doesn't really believe him. Then Bob plans to "be the miracle" for Charlie together with Alice.
- Conversed: "Yes, Christmas can be such a nice day."
- Deconstructed: People don't see any chance for miracles on other days of the year, and everyone is just nice at this wondrous day named Christmas.
- Reconstructed: People are nice only on Christmas, but what counts is that they are nice.
- Implied: We see Bob crying about being fired in one scene on the 23rd December. He is next seen on New Year's Eve, celebrating happily with his many friends at a rather lavish party at his home.
