The spirit of Hearth's Warming yet to come's message

[Discordrules123 10]

While the episode "A Hearth's Warming Tale" did have some problems in its storyline, I think the biggest one is what the third spirit told Snow Frost. Unless I'm mistaken it seemed like the only reason they celebrate the holiday was so that they could keep the Windigos at bay, which makes me imagine the ponies being more concerned with the possibility of freezing to death and not being able to fully enjoy the holiday. Some might have considered this to be associated with "A Hearth's Warming Eve" where the characters heard the Windigos howling in the episode's end, but I think that was just put there for comedy's sake.  

[Thrond 3,259]

I greatly enjoy how that episode incorporates the show's mythology into the Christmas Carol story. Although ponies know their good cheer keeps the Windigos at bay, it's possible that only Snowfall Frost and the spirits are this seriously, because all anyone else had heard of Windigos was fairy tales. Plus, Snowfall herself surely understood that her lack of participation wouldn't cause the Windigos to come, given that it hadn't in the past, so she must have joined because she caught some Hearth's Warming spirit. As for Twilight & co., they see this story as a work of fiction, so it's hard to say if they believe in Windigos at all. Most of all, the holiday is already so merry that nobody even needs to worry about Windigos, because there's relatively little misery to feed off. 

[cmarston1 5,955]

Well, I doubt the characters actually believe that windigos are real.