The Spirit of Christmas is the name of two different animated short films made by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The two shorts are notable for being precursors to the South Park animated series. To differentiate the two, they are often referred to as Jesus vs. Frosty (1992) and Jesus vs. Santa (1995).

The Spirit of Christmas is a Christmas television special performed mostly by marionettes. It was first aired in 1950. Its half-hour showing time is divided into two segments, one dramatizing "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and one telling the story of the Nativity. The jacket of the DVD version calls it "The Philadelphia Holiday Classic," which refers to the region of the United States where it was originally broadcast.

In the 1950's and 1960's this special was aired multiple times per Christmas season, without commercial interruptions except for opening and closing remarks by "your telephone company" (Bell Telephone). It disappeared from the airwaves for several decades but recently has been aired on public television.

A heart warming tale of four children trying to decide which to cheer for: Jesus, or Santa. It almost makes one wonder what Brian Boitano would do in this situation. In the end, though, they decide that Christmas isn't a time for settling old scores, Christmas is about one thing: presents. Written by Austin Williams

Four children, all but one of whom go unnamed, build a snowman which comes to life and threatens their town. Kenny, the only child whose name is given in the film, and who resembles the character called Cartman in the subsequent Spirit of Christmas, The (1995) and "South Park" (1997), is immediately killed by the monster. When the children go to Santa for help, he is revealed to be the monster in disguise, and slaughters another of the kids. The two survivors approach the baby Jesus, who takes on the evil snowman and wins, saving Christmas. Written by Anonymous

A copy of this film survives at the National Film Archive (London).