Christmas

Christmas was an annual Earth religious and cultural holiday that commemorated the birth of Jesus Christ and was celebrated on December 25. While central to the faith of Christianity, it also expanded to include secular fixtures such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees and wreaths.

Celebrations and traditions

In 2000 – while recording a personal journal entry on December 27 – Shannon O'Donnel noted that, while she wasn't looking forward to New Year's Eve, at least Christmas was over. Despite this, Alexandria Books was still decorated for that holiday, including a star and an ornament of a reindeer pulling a sleigh. (VOY: "11:59")

In 2265, a Christmas party was held for personnel in the science labs of the Federation starship Enterprise. (TOS: "Dagger of the Mind")

Christmas is the setting of A Christmas Carol, a holonovel in which Data played Ebenezer Scrooge in 2367 to study method acting. (TNG: "Devil's Due")

While trapped in the Nexus in 2371, Captain Jean-Luc Picard experienced a Christmas – complete with a Christmas tree, presents and dinner – with his illusory children and wife, before being shaken from his reverie and resuming his mission to stop Tolian Soran from destroying the Veridian system. (Star Trek Generations)

While attempting to escape Q in 2372, Quinn briefly tried to hide the USS Voyager, disguising it as an ornament on a Christmas tree. (VOY: "Death Wish")

In the Julian Bashir, Secret Agent holoprogram, Julian Bashir gave Anastasia Komananov a set of exploding earrings for Christmas of 1963. (DS9: "Our Man Bashir")

Comparisons

In 2152, Jonathan Archer sarcastically suggested that he thought the Kreetassan reconciliation demands might involve "standing on one foot with my eyes shut reciting "The Night Before Christmas"." (ENT: "A Night In Sickbay")

Lieutenant La'An Noonien-Singh enjoyed the quiet and solitude of staying behind while the crew was on shore leave, describing it to Lieutenant Commander Una Chin-Riley as "like Christmas". (SNW: "Spock Amok")

When telling Harry Kim about why he finally confessed to his incidence of pilot error, which killed his shipmates, Tom Paris referenced A Christmas Carol and joked that "the ghosts of those three dead officers came to me in the middle of the night and taught me the true meaning of Christmas". (VOY: "Caretaker", "Non Sequitur")

In 2376, overwhelmed with gifts from various visitors, Kathryn Janeway rhetorically asked Chakotay if it didn't look "like Christmas morning in here." (VOY: "Survival Instinct")

Also that year, the holographic character Michael Sullivan mentioned Christmas twice, once when he described Harry Kim and Tom Paris as being "trussed up like Christmas turkeys", and when Janeway gave him a copy of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, asking her if it was "Christmas come early" (VOY: "Spirit Folk")

Appendices

Background information

In the same year as the production and first airing of the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Death Wish" (featuring Quinn's brief attempt to hide the USS Voyager by disguising it as an ornament on a Christmas tree), Hallmark released a Christmas tree ornament of Voyager. ("Death Wish" text commentary)

Sir Isaac Newton was born on 25 December 1642. ^{(citation needed • edit)}

Apocrypha

Christmas was also a central story element in "Spirit in the Sky!," an issue of DC Comics' Next Generation comics miniseries.

In the Star Trek: Assignment: Earth comic "My Name Is Legion", Roberta Lincoln's lover Curtis Wellborn (β) is killed in action in the Vietnam War (β) on Christmas Day.

External links

• Christmas at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Christmas at Wikipedia