Christmas issues very rarely have a lot of canonical standing. They're often placeholders for the December month until the story really gets going with the next issue. And Mark Waid's "Christmas" issue is another stand-alone one, but with plenty of bright moments. In issue seven, Matt Murdock takes a bus of blind children on their annual field trip, but finds himself fighting for all of their survival when the bus crashes. It's also this issue where we get a bit more characterization for Matt, previously unseen in Waid's work. In a single panel, we find out that Matt, despite his best efforts to live in the "now," still very much treats himself like a punching bag, even stating that he still "hates" himself. But the one-off continues with flashbacks of the Nelson and Murdock Christmas party (more about that a bit later) and returns back to Daredevil slowly failing in the snow to get the kids to safety. Finally, in the end, it is the children who save Matt and not the other way around, as they pull their fearless leader to asylum. A one-shot that could have been easily forgettable and sloppy turned out to be a real gem underneath.