Here’s a guide for every episode you need to stream on television get into the holiday spirit! These 11 tv shows, with hilarious holiday episodes, prove that this season really is all about family – no matter how dysfunctional. Be sure to pin this post so you can remember this list of holiday episodes for a new family Christmas tradition.
From our marriage & parenting contributor, Mary Carver.
The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year, as we all know, but also the most hectic time of the year.
From shopping to baking to figuring out what to wear to the fancy party that sounded so fun when you agreed to go, most of our lives are nonstop chaos from about October through New Year’s.
With that in mind, it might seem silly that we’re bombarded with so much holiday programming on TV.
Who has time for that this holiday season when we have gifts to wrap and end-of-semester or end-of-quarter deadlines to meet and family dysfunction to navigate?!?
Well, nobody, I guess.
But while we may not have time to sit back and watch fictional characters and their holiday hijinks, I believe we might just need it.
Because sometimes we need a break.
Sometimes we need to laugh.
Sometimes…well, sometimes we need to watch a family way crazier than our own to regain our perspective on these people driving us nuts in real life!
Fortunately, in addition to the onslaught of holiday movies (of which I am a giant fan) and Christmas specials (of which I have made an exhaustive list), our favorite tv series are HERE FOR US with their very special holiday episodes.
Now, I won’t deny that some of our most beloved dramas have given us so much at holiday time.
From Chrismukkah (The O.C.) and winter festivals (Gilmore Girls) to the most romantic proposal in the snow (Downton Abbey) to even the most dark and twisty characters getting into the holiday spirit (Grey’s Anatomy), these shows can really do a number on our already seasonally fragile emotions.
There’s a time and place for all that, but right now, I’m leaning more toward the fun and funny type of holiday episodes.
That is what I think is going to help us not just get through the holidays, but actually enjoy them.
11 Sitcoms to Get You Into the Holiday Spirit
Black-ish
What other family sitcom addresses real family life and serious societal issues with so much humor and heart?
Making us think (and sometimes tear up) while laughing so hard is a Black-ish specialty, and that’s no different during the holiday.
Stream on Hulu.
- Black Santa/White Christmas – season 1, episode 10
- Stuff – season 2, episode 10
- Just Christmas, Baby – season 3, episode 10
- Christmas in Theater Eight – season 5, episode 8
Bob’s Burgers
I’m new to this show (thanks to Amy’s recommendation on my podcast!), but I can already tell I’m going to love this bizarrely lovable (or is it lovably bizarre?) family’s holiday shenanigans.
Stream on Hulu.
- Bob Rest Ye Gentle-Mannequins – season 3, episode 9
- Christmas in the Car – season 4, episode 8
- Father of the Bob – season 5, episode 6
- Nice-Capades – season 6, episode 5
- The Last Gingerbread House on the Left – season 7, episode 7
- The Bleakening – season 8, episodes 6-7
- Better Off Sled – season 9, episode 10
Community
Though I always enjoyed the times the Community gang simply sat around their study table in the library, the themed episodes where the whole show goes off the rails are really the best.
Two of the Christmas episodes fit that bill to a T, one being filmed in stop-motion animation and one a musical send-up of the TV show, Glee.
If you like your holiday shows on the absurd side, Community has got you covered.
Stream on Hulu.
- Comparative Religion – season 1, episode 12
- Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas – season 2, episode 11
- Regional Holiday Music – season 3, episode 10
- Intro to Knots – season 4, episode 10
Happy Endings
This group of friends always makes me laugh so hard with their ridiculous antics focused on outsmarting each other in some competition or another, while also caring for one another with the most outrageous (and often back-firing) gestures imaginable.
Also, as a fellow December baby, I’m all for friends who go overboard trying to make their friend’s Christmas birthday special.
Stream on Hulu.
- Grinches Be Crazy – season 2, episode 9
- No-Ho-Ho – season 3, episode 7
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is better known for its Thanksgiving (or, Slaps-giving, if you will) episodes, but it had some great Christmas episodes, too.
And while this show is based on an outrageously unrealistic premise (“Kids, let me tell you every sordid detail of my exploits as a young single guy in the big city…”) and had that ending we all agree was major disappointment (*salutes* Major Disappointment), it also really did address issues many of us face as young (and not-so-young) adults.
Navigating friendships in the fallout of a breakup, dealing with homesickness, going through life changes like pregnancy and moves: somehow How I Met Your Mother makes “adulting” hilarious, especially in these holiday episodes.
Stream on Hulu.
- How Lily Stole Christmas – season 2, episode 11
- Little Minnesota – season 4, episode 11
- False Positive – season 6, episode 12
- Symphony of Illumination – season 7, episode 12
New Girl
Every character in this ensemble is intense — but in the super funny, strangely quirky sort of way.
And like in real life, the holidays just amplify what’s already there, turning everything about them, good and bad, individually and collectively, up to an 11.
But in the very best sort of way.
Stream on Netflix.
- The 23rd – season 4, episode 9
- Santa – season 2, episode 11
- LAXmas – season 4, episode 11
- Christmas Eve Eve – season 6, episode 10
Parks and Recreation
Does anyone even come close to possessing the enormous amount of genuine (and productive) holiday spirit as Leslie Knope?
Nope. (See what I did there?)
She outdoes us all, and darn it!
We love her all the more for it.
Despite serious political distractions in these holiday episodes, Leslie and friends give us even more feels than normal, even when we’re not invited to Jerry’s Christmas party!
Stream on Netflix.
- Christmas Scandal – season 2, episode 12
- Citizen Knope – season 4, episode 10
- Ron and Diane – season 5, episode 9
The Goldbergs
Who can rock a hideous Christmas sweater while also turning Hanukkah into a competitive sport better than Beverly Goldberg?
Nobody, that’s who.
Stream on Hulu.
- A Christmas Story – season 3, episode 10
- Han Ukkah Solo – season 4, episode 10
- We Didn’t Start the Fire – season 5, episode 10
- Yippee Ki Yay Melon Farmer – season 6, episode 10
The Mindy Project
If a wine bra and a dancing Danny Castellano aren’t enough to convince you to watch the holiday episodes of The Mindy Project, then I just don’t know what to tell you.
The holidays might be for spending time with the ones you love, but in this show, they’re also for planning and scheming and so many silly twists and complications we can barely keep them straight. (But we totally can, because sitcom complications are rarely all that complicated, and we are smart people.)
Stream on Hulu.
- Josh & Mindy’s Christmas Party – season 1, episode 9
- Christmas Party Sex Trap – season 2, episode 11
- Christmas – season 3, episode 11
The Office
The holiday party planning committee and all its many, many problems is one of my favorite parts of The Office.
Michael Scott going overboard in a ridiculous manner for a ridiculous reason?
Not so much my fave.
But somehow, these holiday episodes combine these two show ingredients into something stupid funny and great examples of what made The Office so popular.
Stream on Netflix.
- Christmas Party – season 2, episode 10
- A Benihana Christmas – season 3, episode 10
- Moroccan Christmas – season 5, episode 10
- Secret Santa – season 6, episode 13
- Classy Christmas – season 7, episode 11
- Christmas Wishes – season 8, episode 10
- Dwight Christmas – season 9, episode 9
Will & Grace
If decking the halls includes donning our gay apparel, then obviously the foursome on Will & Grace are the right ones to help us do the holidays right.
I’m hoping we get one last holiday episode this year, but even if we don’t, we have plenty of classics to choose from.
Stream on Hulu.
- Jingle Balls – season 4, episode 12
- All About Christmas Eve – season 5, episode 11
- Fanilow – season 6, episode 10
- Christmas Break – season 7, episode 12
- A Little Christmas Queer – season 8, episode 9
- A Gay Olde Christmas – season 9, episode 7
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What’s YOUR favorite holiday TV episode?
