Christmas, and the insanity that often seems to surround that holiday, are fast approaching. It’s not just in our homes, or all over the globe, but even in the worlds that seem to exist only in our imagination. Christmas seems to be the only holiday celebrated in the Wizarding World (other than Halloween).
While it has been confirmed that Anthony Goldstein, of Ravenclaw house, is, in fact, Jewish, we never do see any signs of Hanukkah or any other winter holiday. So, here we will focus on some other things you didn’t know (or more likely forgot) about Harry and his snow-covered celebrations. From least awesome to most awesome, here are a few gifts you may have forgotten Harry and friends received for the Christmas holiday.
A Toothpick
That’s right, back in year two, Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, famed wizard of our time, received a toothpick among his Christmas gifts. Who was it from? His family of course! The Dursleys, rather than send nothing, spent the money to make sure Harry received this insulting reminder of their feelings for him. It deserves to be forgotten, of course, but I bet Harry remembers it.
The movies may have ignored the less exciting gifts, but the books did not. The toothpick arrived in the same stack of gifts that included the traditional sweater from Mrs. Weasley.
Homework Planner
Hermione got matching gifts for both Harry and Ron in their fifth year, magical speaking homework planners. “Do it today or later you’ll pay,” the diary likes to chant when flipped open. Hermione’s heart was certainly in the right place, fifth year is O.W.L. examination year after all, but still.
While Harry did not burn the planner as he originally imagined, neither here nor Ron put the books to good use, or any use for that matter. Who really needs a homework planner when your best friend is Hermione anyway? Maybe she was trying to keep the boys from pestering her too much, but she doesn’t seem to have succeeded there either.
Perfume
Harry is not the only one who received presents on Christmas and, in their fifth year, Ron tries to branch out from traditional books and candy and buys a bottle of perfume for Hermione. The scent is described as. “unusual.” Ron doesn’t feel the present went over as well as could have been expected, though Hermione is relatively touched by the gesture.
But fifth year was a rough one for Christmas presents all around (obviously being the same year as the homework planners above).
Snitch and Broom Socks
Again, here is a gift that came straight from the heart, but sometimes handmade presents are not as appreciated as they should be. It is in Harry’s fourth year that he is woken particularly early to find Dobby in his dormitory expectantly waiting to offer Harry his Christmas gift, a mismatched set of homemade socks, one green with snitches on it, the other red with a pattern of broomsticks.
Harry does wear the socks, receiving a compliment from Mad Eye Moody, but that’s probably the only outing they get. The socks are never mentioned again.
Flying with the Cannons book
In second year Ron gifts Harry a book about his (meaning Ron’s) favorite Quidditch team, the usually last place Chudley Cannons, the very same team whose colors (orange) cover most of Ron’s own bedroom at the Burrow.
It’s a particularly thoughtful gift in the second year of their friendship, both taking into account Harry’s Quidditch prowess, as well as the fact that Ron remains the better versed in terms of fandom and team histories. It’s one of the more personal gifts we see the boys exchange during the series (in the books at least).
A Magical Penknife
The greatest significance behind the gift of the penknife in Harry’s fourth year is that it is the first Christmas present Sirius is able to send Harry without hiding his own identity. The Christmas before Sirius sent a present as well, but was still on the run and could not send a card or sign his name to the gift.
While a penknife may seem a silly gift for a wizard this one is magical, with an attachment that supposedly can undo any lock. I guess when alohamora fails you there needs to be another option, and Sirius makes sure Harry has one.
Wooden Flute
In the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, we see Hagrid playing a wooden flute while he sits outside his hut. In the books, however, Hagrid sends a wooden flute he carved to Harry as a Christmas flute.
Aside from the gift being handmaid, from Hagrid, and a part of the first set of gifts Harry has ever received for Christmas, it also comes in handy when (at least at the end of the book) Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to retrieve the Sorcerer’s Stone. In the book, Harry plays the flute to help lull Fluffy, the three-headed dog, to sleep.
Model Firebolt
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry receives a number of presents for the first time from friends outside his school community. Tonks, having only just met Harry over the summer, sends him a miniature model firebolt racing broom that can even fly around the room. The gift is both thoughtful and right on target in terms of Harry’s interests.
A gift meant just for fun it’s nice to see Harry recognized as a teenager with, at least somewhat of, a life outside school and fighting Lord Voldemort.
Emerald Green Sweater
While in the books we see Mrs. Weasley get far more creative with the sweaters she sends Harry for Christmas than the ones she sends her own children (she made him one with a dragon on it when he was in the Triwizard Tournament) the green sweater she sends him in his first year is perhaps the most touching.
She has only had word of him from Ron, apart from a brief glimpse of him on platform 9 3/4, and yet she makes him a sweater just as she does for all her other children. As it comes as part of his first-ever set of Christmas gifts the sweater is particularly meaningful. And most people forget that the sweater was green in the books, as in the films it is blue.
The Firebolt
Who forgot about Harry’s Firebolt broomstick? No one. Why is it on this list? Because movie viewers will not have known that the Firebolt arrived as a Christmas present.
In the Alfonso Cuarón film, the Firebolt doesn’t make an appearance until the end of the film, but in fact, as written, it appears far earlier in the story. Apart from being perhaps the most expensive Christmas present Harry ever received, it is no doubt his favorite, by far. All the more fun because, like the invisibility cloak in book one, it comes with no note. Harry’s best gifts always appear under questionable circumstances.
