Glee: All the Christmas Episodes

Oh boy, I remember back in its prime, “Glee” was that show everyone I knew made fun of … yet secretly loved watching … and I was the same. 

The cast was lovable, the music was great, and the premise revolving around both the comedy and drama of a High-School music quire was downright delightful in its own simple way. The annual Christmas themed episodes were the ones I personally looked forward to the most, as it was the shows signature charm, mixed with new variations of both classic and contemporary Christmas songs that always added something special to the season. So, I thought it was finally time to look back at all the Christmas themed episodes from “Glee”, and highlight favorite moments, favorite songs ... and admittedly some lesser episodes as things went on. Still, get ready to assemble a playlist of terrific Christmas songs … here’s my little look back at all the Christmas themed episodes of “Glee”.     

“A Very Glee Christmas” (Season 2 – Ep. 10)

Out of all the Christmas themed episodes, this one did the best continuing the individual stories of the main characters, all while surrounded by decorations, and holiday cheer. For instance, the relation between Finn and Rachel is getting rocky, and for this episode, it culminates into a musical duet of them singing “Last Christmas”, which is a big highlight of the episode. 

The more Christmas centered story comes in the form of the faculty holding a Secret Santa gift exchange … which the greedy Coach Sue sabotages. Her story directly parallels “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, right down to dressing the part, along with musical renditions of both “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas”. Being a fan of the Dr. Sues holiday classic … I couldn’t help but love and enjoy this segment. We also have Brittany, who still believes in Santa, and wants so bad for her wheelchair-Bound friend Artie to walk again, which is one of the episodes sweeter story threads. Of course, this episode also features a fan favorite duet to the song “Baby it’s Cold Outside”. Other musical highlights include “Merry Christmas Darling”, “We Need a Little Christmas”, and “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year”. All around, this episode plays to the characters strengths, and remains one of their better holiday outings.        

"Extraordinary Merry Christmas" (Season 3 – Ep. 9)

It’s the second of “Glee’s” Christmas episodes … and my personal favorite of the bunch by far. Right off the bat, this one stands out as the only Holiday episode with an original song number in the form of "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" ... and easily my favorite of all their Christmas songs. For this holiday season, the Glee team are given an opportunity to produce a Christmas TV special of their own design, which naturally gets everyone excited. However, things get a little heated as the head of the production wants the special to be as relentlessly cheerful, fun and pleasant as they get. 

This causes a rift between members, as some view human drama as an important element of a good special. While most of the students are so focused on the joy of the holiday, they forget … it’s the sad things that help us remember what’s really important. Case in point, they initially turn down the chance to perform at a homeless shelter, just to get their silly special aired. Naturally, it takes a friend to recreate the famous bible reading scene from “A Charlee Brown Christmas” to show everyone the errors of their ways, and in the end, all the students learn a valuable lesson, and do the right thing by giving more than they receive. It all builds to an emotionally cheerful performance of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". This is one of those cheesy, yet humble Christmas episodes that can just leave me smiling from ear to ear. The message of course is wonderful, and everything on display from the decorations to the costumes perfectly gets me in the holiday mood. 

It’s probably the only Christmas special that will ever pay homage to the long lost “Star Wars Holiday Special”, and I love that their production goes Black and White to simulate to look and feel of an old sit-com. Above all else, I think this episode has the best collection of musical numbers from any other “Glee” Christmas special. Rachels solo rendition of “River” is one of those special emotional numbers that sticks with me. Also, while I’ve never understood how “The Sound of Music’s” song “My Favorite Things” became associated with the holiday, but at least their cover of it is nice. Other noteworthy songs include "All I Want for Christmas Is You", "Blue Christmas", "Let It Snow", "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", and "Christmas Wrapping". Each musical number is a delight to watch, great to listen to, and they’re the final ingredient to make this one of my absolute favorite TV Christmas episodes.

“Glee, Actually” (Season 4 - Ep.10)

After two solid Christmas offerings, the season four holiday event is a half-way decent episode … meaning half of it is quite good, while the other half is mostly disposable. As addressed in both the title, and even the opening narration, this Christmas episode is modeled after the 2003 movie “Love Actually”, and is an anthology of short stories revolving around our principle characters. One segment is a loving homage to “It’s a Wonderful Life”, in which Artie has a flash of what life would be like if his accident never happened. 

While very cliché, I can’t help enjoying the formula. I also like how it’s visually presented, and Artie’s solo version of “Feliz Navidad” is an upbeat highlight. The most touching segment, at least for me, is Coach Sue acting as a secret Santa to someone else who’s at the end of their ropes, and needs a healthy dose of cheer. I couldn’t help but get all buttered-up at a moment with a daughter singing “The First Noel” as a gift to her mother. The other half of the segments unfortunately didn’t leave any kind of impression on me, and were mostly forgettable. Brittany and Sam get married, as they fear the world will end in 2012, and Jake and Puck travel around LA singing about Hanukkah. I will admit that the song “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah” is relentlessly catchy and upbeat, to the point where it’s become a personal favorite. 

One downside to this episode is that we see less of the characters interacting with each-other as a group, and Rachel is barely in it. Also, there’s not as many songs in this episode, but the ones we got are still good on their own, with other noteworthy numbers including “White Christmas” and “Jingle Bell Rock”. The final scene with the club performing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to the grouchy Sue, and slowly melting her cold heart is one of the best moments of all the "Glee" Christmas episodes. While a step-down from the previous two holiday outings, this one had just enough touching moments and memorable songs to keep it on the level of “good” ... which is more then can be said about the final Christmas episode.

“Previously Unaired Christmas” (Season 5 – Ep. 8)

We come to it at last … the one “Glee” Christmas episode that you can skip entirely … because … it’s … BAD … which was apparently the intention. Clearly, the goal for this special was to push hot-buttons, and endlessly annoy the audience with both controversial and … just plain stupid hummer. Well, congratulations … you set-out to be unapologetically irritating … and I hated every second of it. Club Glee is asked to put on a Nativity Performance, but things get hostile between the ladies dueling over who should play Mary … naturally, it’s not very subtle, as the majority don’t know how to properly represent Mary. 

On the other-side of things, Rachel and friends get a job as attractive shopping mall Elves at a Santa thrown … it goes south very fast for them. With drunken escapades, and a painful number set to “The Chipmunk Song” … it’s honestly hard to sit through. The most memorable song number “Here Comes Santa Claus” is nothing special to listing to, but the presentation is so over-the-top, with goofy sets and slutty Elves, which makes it imposable to forget. Most of the songs ranging from “Love Child”, to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, and “Mary’s Little Boy Child” do at least sound good on a playlist … but are otherwise cringe sequences to watch. The one saving grace to this special is the final scene with our team singing “Away in the Manger” during their Nativity production, as it’s a genuinely sweet ending … to an otherwise terrible episode.

In all fairness, even at their weakest, the "Glee" holiday episodes always present something special that make me happy to watch them around the Christmas season. If I were to rank my personal Top 10 Favorite “Glee” Christmas songs, it would go like this …        

#10 “Welcome Christmas”

#9 “The First Noel”

#8 “Away in the Manger”

#7 “River”

#6 “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah”

#5 “Last Christmas”

#4 "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

#3 "Christmas Wrapping"

#2 “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

#1 "Extraordinary Merry Christmas"  

#0 "Oh Holly Night" (This wasn't from one of the Christmas episodes, but a great cover song worth mentioning) 

   Well, that was nostalgic, and a fun look back at some of the best offerings from this decade defining TV musical series. That’s it, thanks for reading my look-back at “Glee’s” Christmas themed episodes … hope it brought back memories … have fun putting together your own holiday themed playlist … and as always …

Let's continue to make every day in December feel magical!