Christmas episodes worth rewatching this year

The Christmas season has a lot of highlights — family, food, festivity — but one of the things we look forward to most might be the holiday-themed television episodes. This glorious tradition runs the whole gamut of your emotional needs over the season, from cozy and cheering to occasionally unhinged.

Whether you’re looking for something to watch in early December to get yourself in a celebratory mood, something to make you laugh after a long day of shopping and baking, or something to make you feel better about your own family dynamics (if only in contrast to what you’re seeing on the screen), we’ve got you covered with this list of the best yuletide episodes from Christmases past.

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Want a few holiday giggles? The campus sitcom Community went above and beyond with “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” (season 2), stepping into the world of stop motion for an episode as nostalgic as it was hilarious. The gang is off on an adventure through repressed memories and Santa’s workshop.
Cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine also paid homage to a classic with its “Yippie Kayak” episode (season 3). Detective Jake gets the thrill of his life when he can (almost) recreate the movie Die Hard by hunting down a group of hostage-taking department store thieves.
And we can’t forget the shows that gave us entirely new holiday traditions. Seinfeld created Festivus, where families gather around a metal pole instead of a tree and voice their grievances (“The Strike,” season 9).
We’re also forever indebted to Californian teen drama The O.C. for popularizing a classic holiday hybrid in “The Best Chrismukkah Ever (season 1).

Christmas is a time for warm and fuzzy feelings, and The Vicar of Dibley, a British fan favourite, is sure to get you in the spirit. “The Christmas Lunch Incident” (season 4) sees Rev. Geraldine juggling a quartet of holiday dinner invitations, but we also have a soft spot for the “Winter” episode (season 3), which includes a fully mounted Nativity play in Owen’s barn. There’s a lot of nonsense along the way — as you would expect from an episode of Dibley — but also plenty of moments that remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.
Call the Midwife’s “Christmas Special” (season 2) likewise centres on the reason for the season. A baby is left at the convent’s front door, and its mother must be found. Meanwhile, midwife Chummy leads preparations for that year’s Nativity play. The parallels between the unwanted baby in the 1950s and the barn-born baby of the Bible make for a deeply touching combination — keep your tissues handy.
If you want something lighter, try the beloved Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek. In “Merry Christmas, Johnny Rose” (season 4), Johnny attempts to throw the perfect Rose family party but is thwarted by his adult children, who have their own plans..

Not all Christmases are merry and bright. Some are loud and disturbing and grim. If that’s what calls to you this holiday season, maybe try the “Fishes” episode (season 2) of restaurant dramedy The Bear. Chicago’s Berzatto clan is rowdy at the best of times, but when they gather for Christmas dinner in this flashback episode, the combination of family dysfunction and alcohol brings all their tensions to the surface. You wouldn’t believe how much your personal sense of safety and well-being can hinge on whether a fictional character chooses to throw a fork.
“White Christmas” (season 2) is exactly what you would expect from a holiday episode of the British sci-fi series Black Mirror: worryingly accurate depictions of the potential pitfalls of technology, set against the backdrop of Christmas office parties, snowy scenes and digital “cookies.
The showrunners of M*A*S*H ensured that every episode included at least one scene in the operating room so viewers wouldn’t be able to forget the actual impact of the Korean War. “Death Takes a Holiday” (season 9) is no exception. During a Christmas ceasefire, the team throws a Christmas party for a group of orphans — a heartwarming celebration of the season. But while the fun is happening in one part of the camp, in another the doctors try to keep a severely wounded soldier alive long enough that he won’t die on Christmas Day.

Many Christmas episodes are passing amusements, something you’ll watch if you happen to catch them on television or scroll by them on a streaming service. Then there are the shows you seek out: the absolute classics. The ones where it doesn’t really feel like Christmas until you’ve had your annual viewing. Often these Christmas specials are standalones rather than part of an ongoing series.

My favourites? Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The original three animations came out in consecutive years, from 1964 to 1966 — what a run!

You may also think fondly of classics like Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town or even Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol, all of which date to around the same time. What’s more, they all share similar narrative threads: a social outsider is on a quest to find themselves and the meaning of Christmas. A soft-hearted companion helps them along the way. And in the end, they always succeed.

No Christmas episode list is complete without The Office (U.S.) and Friends, two titans of the genre. The Office has a multi-year arc of sales representative Phyllis usurping holiday party planning duties from her accounting nemesis, Angela (season 5’s “Moroccan Christmas” sees Phyllis arguably taking her coup too seriously), plus many instances of branch boss Michael getting his feelings hurt. Remember him dressing up as Jesus to upstage Phyllis’s Santa in “Secret Santa” (season 6)? But our favourite is season 2’s “Christmas Party.” The increasingly competitive Secret Santa gift exchange culminates in Pam receiving Jim’s teapot, one of the most charming moments in the show’s whole run for these office sweethearts.

Friends may not have anything quite as plot-propelling up its holiday sleeve, but standout episodes include Phoebe saving unwanted Christmas trees in “The One Where Rachel Quits” (season 3), Chandler being stuck in Tulsa over the holidays in “The One with Christmas in Tulsa” (season 9) and most especially “The One with the Holiday Armadillo” (season 7), which really needs no further explanation.

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Kate Spencer is a writer in Halifax.