Important wins for Bluebirds, Hornets, Posh and Owls
Cardiff ensured that they will sit top of the table at Christmas, while another victory for Peterborough was not enough to lift them off the bottom.
Elsewhere, Middlesbrough were beaten on the road, Millwall came unstuck on home soil, Nottingham Forest endured an afternoon to forget and Sheffield Wednesday picked up back-to-back successes.
Cardiff will sit proudly at the Championship summit on Christmas Day after picking up an impressive 1-0 victory away at Leicester, with the vastly-experienced Craig Bellamy netting the only goal of the game.
Crystal Palace remain in third after being held to a 1-1 home draw by Huddersfield. Wilfried Zaha netted the opener for the hosts before Keith Southern earned a point for the Terriers, with both sides finishing with ten men after Damien Delaney and Anthony Gerrard received their marching orders.
Fourth-placed Middlesbrough went in front at Elland Road but ended up empty-handed, with a deadly double from Luciano Becchio ensuring that Leeds gave their new owners something to celebrate.
Watford clambered into the play-off places on the back of a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, with Matej Vydra bagging a brace in a game which saw Daniel Ayala dismissed for the visitors to Vicarage Road.
Millwall slipped out of the top-six after going down 2-1 to struggling Barnsley, with a late effort from Marcus Tudgay seeing the Tykes past the 10-man Lions - with a missed penalty from Darius Henderson proving costly for the hosts.
Thriller
Peterborough, who stunned Cardiff last weekend, were at it again as they edged a nine-goal thriller with Bolton, with goals from Lee Tomlin, the in-form Dwight Gayle, George Thorne, Mark Little and Gabriel Zakuani ensuring that a penalty double from Keith Andrews and further efforts from Benik Afobe and Martin Petrov counted for nothing.
Sheffield Wednesday also made it two wins from two, moving them out of the drop zone, with a stunning volley from Rhys McCabe and a stoppage-time effort from Jeremy Helan seeing the Owls past Charlton.
Birmingham were unable to offer their supporters much festive cheer, but Nikola Zigic did snatch a dramatic equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Burnley.
Bristol City are now second from bottom in the second tier standings, with Tommy Smith cancelling out Neil Danns' opener as Ipswich claimed a share of the spoils in a basement battle at Portman Road.
Blackburn's home date with Brighton was the only Championship fixture to fall foul of the weather, with a waterlogged pitch at Ewood Park preventing them from going head-to-head.
