After the death of his mother, Chihiro Komiya is taken in by a long-lost rich Uncle Madoka Takatori. Chihiro is happy to make himself useful to his new family and quickly sets about cleaning the pigsty of a mansion from top to bottom. He is determined to make for a place for himself in his uncle’s household and settles into the role of maid/elementary school student.

His uncle wanted to give him something fun for Christmas, but all dear little Chihiro wanted was a new vacuum cleaner. You won’t be able to contain your own smile when you see the look on his face when he unwraps it. He foregoes video games with his friends in order to spend Christmas day cleaning. His friends even help out, hoping he’ll finish earlier so they can play. The cleaning still takes all day. We are left to believe that the moral of this story is that regardless of what you are doing on Christmas, if you’re with your friends and family and having fun, even if it is cleaning, that’s what counts.

Kenji Harmia is a thug, but at least he’s thug with a sweet spot. He has a crush on the sweetest, ditsiest high school girl there ever was named Tenma. The girl has a crush on the plainest guy on the planet, Karasuma. The story gets pretty zany from there as we follow Kenji on his quest to win the heart -- or even the notice -- of Tenma. We find that whenever big, tough Kenji gets the chance to confess his feelings something really crazy happens to get in his way. Will he ever be able to get his emotions across?

The Christmas episode, like every episode of School Rumble, is a little nuts. Kenji has been squarely friend-zoned by Tenma and pours his heart and soul into a grand gesture to get her attention, a manga manuscript that will be published. The journey to get that manuscript published is a difficult one that includes a flight of mackerel missiles targeting him like in a mecha anime. The whole story wraps up with Tenma’s feelings being hurt, Kenji’s opportunity to confess gone, and a sweet, simple apology delivered while wearing a Santa suit to save their friendship. It’s an unconventional romance, but a nice one for Christmas that will make you laugh.

Itsudatte My Santa! is a standalone Christmas story about a young man named Santa, who happened to be born on Christmas. The kid has problems beyond that, too. His parents have made little time for him over the years, often leaving him alone on his birthday. Santa comes to hate the holiday out of the bitterness he feels.

Mai is a Santa in training, the niece of The Santa. She feels bad that none of the other Santas have done anything to rectify young Santa’s despair over the years. Mai is upset since she knows that Santa is always watching, so he had to know this kid was miserable, right?

Mai is a rather precocious girl and shanghaies Santa for the evening to give him a few insights into his life. She shows him the real reason his parents are always away. She gives him a reason for his friends not inviting him to Christmas parties. Mai also resurfaces some pleasant memories of his Christmas past. The cute little Santa-in-training opens his heart and finds her way into it. The end of the episode is sweet with a promise for her to spend his next birthday with him as well.

The Pet Girl of Sakurasou Hall is a story about being average while surrounded by genius. Sakurasou Hall is the small, run-down housing unit for “special” students at a prestigious school. The rooms are filled with an assortment of best and brightest students, who are all very eccentric. The story revolves mainly around Sorata, an average guy who ends up residing there, and Mashiro, a painter with no social skills. Sorata is assigned Mashiro duty, which entails everything from making her get dressed in the morning to getting her to class. Sorata likes Mashiro; Mashiro likes Sorata, but she’s so unfamiliar with emotion she doesn’t realize it. Sorata’s best female friend, Nanami, likes him and invites him for a date on Christmas Eve.

The date goes well and both Nanami and Sorata enjoy a show and dinner in a snow-filled wonderland surrounded by the lights and sounds of the season. The date is almost perfect for Nanami, and giving her the will to confess, until they find out Mashiro disappeared from a gala she was attending. The two search for Mashiro and find her barefoot and sitting in a snowy park. We don’t have a confession or a resolution at the end of the episode and Nanami is a bit depressed as she realizes the sizable task she will have in becoming first in Sorata’s heart. The entire series is good in dealing with relationships between people and this Christmas arch was no different.

Kronuma doesn’t have many friends and it really isn’t her fault. She just happens to look and sound like the ghost from a movie called “The Ring.” Kronuma is a sweet and timid girl and unable to stand up for herself. She dreams of having a normal life. It’s a dream embodied in her friendship with the most popular guy in class, Kazehaya. The story spans 25 episodes as we watch Kronuma learn to come out of her shell, trust others and make friends. It’s a truly gentle coming of age story.

Kazehaya is hosting a Christmas party for all of their friends. Kronuma declines the invitation, though she really wishes to go, because her family has plans at home on Christmas Eve. After spending time with her parents, she begs for permission to leave and go to the party. Her mother is ecstatic and her father is a bit disappointed at having to let go of his little girl, but grants her permission to go. Unfortunately for Kronuma, the party is over before she can get there. She runs into Kazehaya on the way there and he gives her a gift after a series of cute blushing exchanges. The entire anime will put you in the mood with the romance of young love and would make a perfect Christmas Eve marathon (snuggled up with your love, of course).

Nisekoi is the tale of two young people not in love -- or are they? Chitoge is the daughter of a mob boss and Raku is the son of Japanese crime lord. In order to prevent a mob war, the parents of this mob prince and princess announce that the couple are engaged. The two have to keep up the pretense that they are in love, despite hating each other, in order to keep the peace. We see some big changes as the series goes on when it comes to their feelings for one another. We think one of the biggest examples when it comes to Raku’s feelings is the Christmas episode.

Raku knows that Chitoge has a strained relationship with her mother, a rather powerful and sometimes “scary” (Chitoge’s word, not ours) businesswoman, and wants to help mend the relationship. He knows that Chitoge wants nothing more than time with her mother, who is constantly absent from her life because of business. Raku becomes Chitoge’s mother’s assistant and works himself almost to death in order to free up time in her schedule for her daughter. He even has to go as far as confronting Hana (Chitoge’s mother) about her own feelings (a very brave task) to get her to stick around for a few hours to spend it with her daughter. The romance may not be there in this episode, but the love is. Raku understands that Chitoge is hurting because of her strained relationship with her mother and moves heaven and earth to help mend that wound. As Hana points out before boarding her flight at the end of the episode, you don’t work yourself like that for just a friend.

The World God Only Knows is a show about a young man named Keima who is perhaps the greatest dating sim player ever. He has gone so far as to have sworn off the world of 3D girls for the 2D girls of dating sims. A young and adorable demon by the name of Elsie decides Keima is the best partner to help her catch rogue souls, those that have escaped the underworld and taken up residence in the hearts of young girls who have despair and insecurity in their hearts. His goal is to date these at-risk girls and fill them with love, expelling the rogue souls so Elsie can capture them and send them back to the underworld.

Kanon is a famous pop star and part-time student at Keima’s school who has almost debilitating feelings of inadequacy. A rogue soul has taken root in her heart and is slowly turning her invisible even as her stardom sores. Keima works his way into her heart, cheering her on and cheering her up. On Christmas Eve she is to hold a big concert, the culmination of her dreams and hard work, but lets her insecurities overwhelm her and she disappears just before the start. Keima tracks Kanon down and gives her one amazing pep talk. He reminds her of all the things that make her special and that makes her fall in love with him completely. She kisses Keima and the rogue spirit leaves her body to be captured. Keima, who has sworn off 3D girls for the 2D world, even hints at the end that he might actually respect Kanon -- and even possibly like her. A rather sweet ending for a scrooge like Keima in this Christmas Eve tale.

When you search romantic comedy + anime, Toradora makes almost every list. The lead character Ryuuji looks like a hoodlum but is sweet and gentle. Taiga, the female lead, looks like a sweet demure high school girl, and in actuality is a sometimes-violent tsundere-type character nicknamed the “palm top tiger” because her petite stature and aggressive behavior. We find looks are often deceiving, and that extends to parents and classmates. We know from the get-go that these two opposites complement each other and are destined to be together.

Ryuuji and Taiga are both in love with other people and with Christmas being a romantic holiday you know things will get complicated. You also know when you are willing to blow off your big chance to confess to the girl you love to spend time cheering up a friend, you might want to reconsider who you’re in love with. We think that the prioritizing of Taiga’s feelings over his own and the way he shows up to cheer her up, in a bear costume no less, is just as much a dedication of love as any confession.

Satoru Fujinuma is a 29-year-old pizza delivery man/struggling manga artist trying to get his break and make ends meet. He also has a gift. He can rewind time. He calls his gift Revival. He often uses Revival to save a life by subtly altering the past, though he often only has a few minutes before the he catches up to the present. When Satoru finds a loved one murdered and the police think he did it he uses Revival to unravel truth. He does most of the investigation with his adult mind back in time in his childhood body as he relives the weeks surrounding the disappearance and murder of a female classmate named Kayo. We find that this murder mystery/science fiction anime can keep you on the edge of your seat with every episode. The show’s hallmark is suspense but a handful of scenes like this post-Christmas scene have all the holiday feels you could ask for.

Satoru’s plan to save Kayo is simple, to be friends with her. He knows whoever killed her targeted her because she was always alone. Satoru realizes that there are many things you just ignore and gloss over as kids, but his adult mind sees the signs and he realizes the terrible life Kayo was living. Satoru decides that Kayo needs something nice done for her after a particularly bad day at school and convinces her to go into the mountains with him after class. He says he wants to show her a Christmas tree. The two children see a couple of red foxes and watch as the animals dance in the snow. The two end up standing at the base of a frost- filled tree, the icicles hanging down like tinsel and the bright stars in the night sky filling in the gaps between the branches appearing like Christmas lights; they innocently hold hands. We smile when he declares it a Christmas tree and she replies, “Are you stupid? It’s February.” We know they are sharing something special and innocent and isn’t that what Christmas is about?

My little sister can’t be this cute (or Oreimo for short) gives us many memorable moments and characters. The story includes a rather complex sibling relationship between Kyosuke (brother) and Kirino (sister) and the people in their orbit, including several love interests for Kyosuke. Kirino is an ideal student, young lady, professional model, very popular at school and a secret otaku. She also harbors some deep-seated resentment towards her brother, at least that is what we are led to believe. Kyosuke is an average student with a few friends and just goes through life not making much of an impact. Despite his sister’s open hostility, he’s a good brother and always does his best to protect her.

The entire simmering pot of plot boils over in episode 14, which takes place around Christmas. Kyosuke meets Ruri, his ex-girlfriend, on a rainy night and tells her he’s in love with another girl. Ruri knows by now that other girl is his sister, Kirino. Kyosuke then spends the next day on a date in Akihabara with Kirino. The siblings spend the entire day together at cafés and shopping in anime stores. The pair decide to head home and Kyosuke decides he needs to confess something to Kirino, he has fallen in love with a girl. Kirino, upset by the news, loses her cool and storms off telling him she is leaving Japan and going to America for school. Kyosuke chases after her but loses her in the pedestrian traffic. Their friends, all former potential girlfriends for Kyosuke, show up in a minivan revealing they’d been stalking Kyosuke and Kirino’s date. The girls confront Kyosuke about his feelings for his sister and surprisingly are willing to help. Kyosuke, seeing Kirino, leaps out of the van and in a crowded street confesses his love for her at the top of his lungs. Kirino is taken by surprise by the confession, but not taken aback or disgusted. Kyosuke right then and there asks Kirino to stay in Japan and marry him. Kirino happily accepts. We know this is a weird twist on the confession, but incest aside it is a heartwarming Christmas confession of love.

Amagami SS is a unique series in the way it follows Junichi and the women in his life. You may think harem, but it really isn’t. We get to see Junichi down several different routes after several different heroines, making each multi-episode arc a universe unto itself. Junichi is a protagonist who had his heart broken on Christmas when he was stood up. He tries to ignore girls and just focuses on his studies.

Junichi then falls hard, and we mean like penny-off-the-Empire-State-Building hard, for Haruka. She’s the most popular and beautiful girl in school and Junichi proceeds to ask her out. Of course she says… no. Junichi gets to know her as a friend and continues to ask her out again and again in the most public and humiliating ways until she gives him a chance.

Haruka invites him to a family gathering at Christmas at a hotel, a gathering that the rest of her family decides for one reason or another to flake out on, leaving the two of them alone in the hotel room. The girl of his dreams stands before him in front of a window with the snow gently falling outside and confesses her love to him. The scene is great for a number of reasons and it’s not just the sincerity of the confession. You feel like you got to watch the relationship mature and you are left with the feeling that the promises they make that Christmas will be kept for life.