5. Christmas EVERY DAY
How many children haven't at some point wished that it could be Christmas every day? Reliving the happiest day of the year every single day of the year must be amazing. You would get a decadent Christmas dinner every night. Every morning would be filled with gift opening and sweet treats. There would be absolutely no school and you'd get so spend quality time with family day after day. As awesome as it sounds the representations of this idea in the media portray it as less than loveable. Christmas Every Day was a short story published by William Dean Howells in 1982 subsequently made into a film of the same name in 1996 starring Erik von Detten as teenager Billy. Unlike the description above Billy's Christmases aren't sequential but instead repetitive. Like the film Groundhog Day, Billy finds himself caught in a time loop forced to live the same events over while being the only one aware of what's going on. He must continue reliving Christmas until he does everything right losing his selfish attitude and making his family and fellow townsfolk happy. The film was remade ten years later as Christmas Do-Over but those films certainly aren't the only to use the trope. Released the same year in 1996 was Elmo Saves Christmas which focused on a similar theme. The first segment featured in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas saw Donald Duck's nephews put in the same situation as Billy being forced to relive the exact same day over until they too made everything perfect for their family. The biggest deviation from the original theme was the first Christmas episode of The Fairly Odd Parents in which Timmy wished it could be Christmas every day and in which the Christmases were sequential so each Christmas was a new day and everyone was aware. It's likely we haven't seen the last of this plot as it has managed to make some great specials while carrying a message worth noting. Part of what makes Christmas - and all the other holidays - so special is that it happens only once a year so we must cherish it while it lasts.