Halo Take:

In Halo 4, Cortana should have become one with an Engineer to beat her rampancy. Chief could have had a tentacle gf that didn't become a galactic tyrant

Halo 3 should be a Christmas game

The battle in Halo 3 takes place in November and December of 2552, with the memorial service scene at the end taking place in March of 2553. It happens around Christmas time.

I sort of agree that just a story being set around Christmas time doesn't automatically make it a Christmas story, but here me out.

Even with no mention of Christmas*, it still manages to capture the feeling of not being able to go home to family during the holidays. I think this is mostly caused by being close to the end of the war and missing those that were lost in battle, but it still has the vibe of missing family at the holidays.

*Do they still celebrate Christmas in 2552? I think they probably do, because Christmas is, at it's core, a religious holiday and according to the Halo Fandom Wiki, Johnson went to Church as a youngin and seems to still believe in a higher power, that being capital "g" God. So, given that there is still religion, I imagine that stories of Jesus's birth are still being passed from generation to generation. Thus, Christmas is still a celebrated holiday, at least on earth.

Now, because it evokes the same feeling as missing lost family and friends, and is also about a war, it is a reminder that war doesn't stop just because we want it to or because it would be convenient.** It doesn't stop because we are grieving, tired, or out of resources. It continues on, plowing it's way through life after life, without a care in the world.

**I can't fully say it doesn't stop for the holidays, because it literally did once. I don't remember which war it was, but they stopped fighting on Christmas and ate food with each other. It's a cool story. If I can find it I'll attach it to the end of this post.

Halo 3 captures the feeling of wishing you could go home to family, wishing you could bring dead family back, wishing you could go home for the holidays.

And that is why I think it should be a Christmas game.

Does this mean you can't play it at other times of the year? Absolutely not. 1. That would be ridiculous. You could watch Elf or the Grinch in august if you wanted to. 2. It doesn't mention the holidays anywhere, so it doesn't feel weird playing it at other times of the year. But it does lend itself to a Christmas feel because of the time of year it was set in and the themes of wishing people could be here to enjoy your wins with you and just be together.

Disclaimer: My feelings on this matter could totally be influenced by the fact that I first played H3 around Christmas time. Also, it's been awhile since I played H3, so I am going off of memory here.

Here is that story I was talking about. It is my opinion, the most entertaining parts are located under the section titled "Christmas 1914". I might make a post about this on it's own, idk.