When the air gets colder and Christmas carols hit the radio before you’ve digested your Halloween candy, a lot of us are not ready for tinsel and figgy pudding. What is a nerd like me supposed to do? Get out those comics, books, and movies! It’s time for my favorite ways to get in the Holiday spirit!

Star Wars Holiday Special

This is probably the most guilty pleasure on the list, and let’s be honest. This movie is so bad that no self respecting Star Wars fan really wants to even acknowledge it’s exists. From the first 15 minutes in Wookie (and I never learned Wookie, I feel like there were some really good jokes there that I missed. Maybe it was too esoteric for me, or maybe it was crap. The truth is out there folks!) to The Jefferson Airship video smack dab in the middle for some reason. I instantly regretted ever watching this weird piece of history online. However, it’s the right type of holiday spirit for the geek that doesn’t want to celebrate the season. All the absurdities of Star Wars with none of the pay off.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter was a large part of a lot of childhood and one of my favorite young adult books. While I love the entire series, when I feel the need to get in to a holiday sort of mood, Prisoner of Azakaban comes off the shelf. Though there are many other books based at Hogwarts that have a bigger emphasis on the holiday season, like Goblet of Fire’s Yule Ball or the pure joy of Harry’s first Christmas without the Dursley’s in Sorcerer’s Stone, this is the book where we first encounter Remus Lupin and Sirius Black in all their greatness. While JK Rowling toyed with my emotions for a while before revealing that Black was a good guy, his Christmas present for his Godson (the Firebolt) was about the coolest thing in the world to me when I read it. For a moment when I read that chapter again I feel like a little kid again imagining that I am riding my own Firebolt in a world where magic is real.

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

For the even the most obstinate Scrooge among us, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis exists to show us that even in the darkest winter, Christmas comes again. Whether or not you subscribe to Lewis’ particular form of metaphor, the Return of Father Christmas with the weakening of the powers of the White Witch is an exciting moment in the story. The Pevensies are armed with weapons and tools that will continue to have importance in later books and told things about themselves that shape the story being crafted. C.S. Lewis introduced to the joy of the holidays at a young age and every time I am feeling a little bit down about the season I find my copy of LWW and pop it open for a read.

DC Comics Presents Superman and Santa Claus

This exists. If the cover isn’t enough to sell you, just be content in knowing that this is objectively the most awesome holiday special comic in the world.