Dawn...I'm not sure if I care what her happiest was, but I'd go out on a limb and say that it was when she realized her sister was alive.

Dawn thought that would make her happy, but she thought the same about Joyce coming back. Buffy's and Dawn's relationship was never really that positive for Dawn. I'd put Dawn's happiest moment soon after her creation, when she was first fit into the gang of Scoobies and had a mother all to herself, before "Family"s

DAWN: It's just across the street. What is the big deal, I'm just gonna go-
BUFFY: No. It's family night. (glances at Riley) And besides, Melinda's a bad influence. I don't like you hanging out with someone that ... short.
DAWN: (annoyed) I am so glad you're moving back into the house. This is the source of my gladness.

When she was "lil' punkin' belly" to Joyce and played chess with Willow and hung out with Tara. Unless those were all memories manufactured by the monks, which would be pretty sad.

(Also, I'm very proud I caught up all 147 posts I was behind on in this thread without skipping.)

Jeff started a nice discussion, didn't he? I need everything in my life to be going right to be happy, so I vote for long periods like the summer of Season Five over brief moments like Class Protector. In retrospect, Buffy will have lots of memories of white bread demon-and-a-movie dates with Riley, her last summer with her mother, and a summer vacation with her reunited circle of friends. She can only replay the Class Protector moment in her mind so much before running into the other depressing and bittersweet memories from that evening.

On giving Buffy the last line in Chosen, I don't think there is anything Buffy could have spoken that would have said more than that half-smile.

Yes, I do agree with that, ted. I just wish her last line had some substance, even if her last line wasn't the last line.

My list:

Buffy: Within the show's main timeline, I'd say after she gets the Class Protector award, when Angel walks in at the prom. But she was even happier in the flashback we saw in "Becoming," just before Merrick comes up to her.

Willow: I'd say the beginning and end of S4 were both happy times for her, because of Oz and Tara, and because she was finding a place academically and with magic. She might have been more blissful at the beginning of the season, but she was more self-assured at the end.

Xander: Right after "The Replacement."

Anya: What everyone else said -- rehearsing her wedding vows.

Giles: At the end of Checkpoint. His little girl had grown up, and he'd made his point.

Spike: At the beginning of S2, when he was just gleefully evil. Post-chip, I'd say when Buffy invites him into the house in "The Gift."

Tara: The floaty dance at the end of "Family." She'd found out somethign she believed about herself wasn't true, and learned the people around her really loved her.

Dawn: Hmmm. Maybe the end of "Grave," when she's fought side-by-side with her sister and proven her worth?

Cordelia: When she shows up at the prom in the dress Xander bought for her, I think. It's certainly her most hopeful and dignified moment.

I just wish her last line had some substance, even if her last line wasn't the last line.

Honestly, she talked so much in S7, I was glad we didn't have to hear another Buffy speech at that point. "Spike" said more to me that some 70-word answer about "We all did this, by the power of our friendship and magic and strength and blah blah blah" ever could.

And I liked the smile.

What was Joyce's happiest? End of School Hard?

That's one moment, but I'd put coming home from her date in "I Was Made to Love You" above it. She was in a place to really appreciate small things -- health, having a date, bantering with her daughters.

but I'd put coming home from her date in "I Was Made to Love You" above it

This certainly fits the ME profile of having people be their happiest right before something awful happens to them - see also Passion, Surprise/Innocence, etc.

Buffy: How about jumping off the tower in "The Gift?" She seemed pretty blissful then. Actually, everything between that moment and the end of "Bargaining 1" was probably her happiest time.

Of course, it made everyone else on the show miserable...

Dawn: Beginning of season 7. Starting high school, finally has a good relationship with her sister, accepted as (more or less) an equal in the Scoobies...actually, all of "Lessons" up until Buffy bursts into the classroom to "save" her.

Make your own William Doll

It seems to me that it could also be a Randy doll with a haircut and some product.

How about jumping off the tower in "The Gift?" She seemed pretty blissful then. Actually, everything between that moment and the end of "Bargaining 1" was probably her happiest time.

Y'know, I just can't count fulfillment of a death wish as "happy."

Maybe it's just me.

I never saw that as fulfillment of a death wish. I think I am very alone. I never saw it as suicidal. I never saw it as giving up. I just saw it as her next turn at throwing her life between death and people she loves, and this time, she knew she'd really save the world.