Vanessa is exhausted from all of her usual Christmas preparations, so Mike decides to give her a great gift-get the kids to help with some of those preparations. He directs Kristin to decorate the family tree (and in a dramatic departure from almost every other TV show that ever mentions a Christmas tree, they are NOT decorating it the night before Christmas. Yay!). Mandy and Eve are tasked with writing the family Christmas letter, and Ryan is told to put up the big Nativity scene at the church-a job that was Vanessa's.
The side plot has Ed deciding his old knees can't take another year of kids sitting on his lap, so he chooses Chuck to take over the duties, which he handles with gusto. As Ed is announcing his choice, Kyle says that Chuck can't be Santa Claus, prompting a wonderful bit where Chuck stands up asking why. We see the whole room now full of black men all listening in, sure Kyle is going to say Chuck can't be Santa because he's black. Kyle, being Kyle, says, "Because he's way too tall for the Santa Claus suit." Ed quickly responds, "Lawsuit avoided, now let's move on."
Kristin has no problems with her assignment, but Mandy and Eve cannot think of anything interesting to write about, in a year when Vanessa changed to a new career, Mike spent two months traveling the world and Kris got married. So they get the idea to write up a humorous pack of made up stories-such as their mom joining a cult and dad a biker gang. The last part allowed a couple of references to Tim Allen's hit movie "Wild Hogs" where he was indeed part of a group of four men who took a road trip on their motorcycles.
There was also a slight reference to another of Tim Allen's film roles, the Santa Clause trio. Chuck, as Santa, is talking to Boyd. Boyd knows it is Mr. Larabee in the suit. He is told that Chuck "works for Santa." Boyd responds, "Really? I thought you worked for Grandpa."
Ryan, with the willing help of Kyle, comes up with the notion of altering the Nativity scene to make it include the non-Christians of the world, ignoring the fact that few Jewish or Hindi or Muslim folks really celebrate the religious aspect of Christmas, even if they do join in for the widespread non-religious aspects-family gatherings, exchanging presents, etc. After they finish, Kyle returns, sans Ryan, showing a photo they set up where the only thing on display was a sign about what is to come.
They all rush off to the church to fix things only to see that Ryan stayed behind and fixed it, remembering Mike's earlier message saying that the goal was to do something good for Vanessa. For all of the Ryan haters who dislike his annoying side, not realizing how it makes him a good foil for Mike, this was surely one of Ryan's most likeable scenes in the series.
When Vanessa learns about the fictional Christmas letter, she is furious-until the messages from the family come in telling how hilarious they found the letter. She admits it was funny, she just didn't realize that everyone would see it as a joke and this is why she was upset. Vanessa, who at first was upset thinking Mike's "gift" would cause her other work that was worse than doing all those things, has come around to appreciate not having such a hectic Christmas. She is even shown looking and happily crying at a family photo album, which I observed was clearly displaying Christmas pictures of some of the family, including Boyd. Kudos to the producer (or director) for not just showing any old pictures figuring nobody would notice them as a small part of one scene.
At the end, the family is opening presents on Christmas Day, reflecting on a special, memorable Christmas-without any sappy lines. Kristin even gets involved in a funny bit right at the end-which doesn't need to be spoiled here.
One big plus is that this family actually mentions-not discusses, must mentions-key things concerning the central character of Christmas-Jesus. Understand, there is no religious talk, but so many of the other series in TV history, as well as movies, seem to want to talk about "the true meaning of Christmas" without ever mentioning Jesus or Bethlehem, or anything religious at all. It's fine to have a show totally focused on the secular aspects of Christmas-such as "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Miracle on 34th Street"-but if the characters are specifically talking about the "true meaning" there ought to be a mention, at least, of whose birthday is being celebrated.
This series had several different Christmas episodes and all have been excellent. I believe this episode, a 10 from me, might have been their best. It's always been a puzzle to me that other family TV series-from Leave it to Beaver and My Three Sons to The Cosby Show never even had a Christmas episode. They want you to think of their families as typical American families, but they are indeed unusual if they don't do any sort of Christmas celebration. Then there's The Dick Van Dyke Show, which had the big network star Alan Brady essentially turn his entire variety show over to his staff of a producer, three writers, one writer's wife and son, for a Christmas special that was one of that great series least funny episodes. The series never depicted Rob and Laura dealing with any aspects of Christmas in their own lives, not even with all the possibilities involving their young son.
The side plot has Ed deciding his old knees can't take another year of kids sitting on his lap, so he chooses Chuck to take over the duties, which he handles with gusto. As Ed is announcing his choice, Kyle says that Chuck can't be Santa Claus, prompting a wonderful bit where Chuck stands up asking why. We see the whole room now full of black men all listening in, sure Kyle is going to say Chuck can't be Santa because he's black. Kyle, being Kyle, says, "Because he's way too tall for the Santa Claus suit." Ed quickly responds, "Lawsuit avoided, now let's move on."
Kristin has no problems with her assignment, but Mandy and Eve cannot think of anything interesting to write about, in a year when Vanessa changed to a new career, Mike spent two months traveling the world and Kris got married. So they get the idea to write up a humorous pack of made up stories-such as their mom joining a cult and dad a biker gang. The last part allowed a couple of references to Tim Allen's hit movie "Wild Hogs" where he was indeed part of a group of four men who took a road trip on their motorcycles.
There was also a slight reference to another of Tim Allen's film roles, the Santa Clause trio. Chuck, as Santa, is talking to Boyd. Boyd knows it is Mr. Larabee in the suit. He is told that Chuck "works for Santa." Boyd responds, "Really? I thought you worked for Grandpa."
Ryan, with the willing help of Kyle, comes up with the notion of altering the Nativity scene to make it include the non-Christians of the world, ignoring the fact that few Jewish or Hindi or Muslim folks really celebrate the religious aspect of Christmas, even if they do join in for the widespread non-religious aspects-family gatherings, exchanging presents, etc. After they finish, Kyle returns, sans Ryan, showing a photo they set up where the only thing on display was a sign about what is to come.
They all rush off to the church to fix things only to see that Ryan stayed behind and fixed it, remembering Mike's earlier message saying that the goal was to do something good for Vanessa. For all of the Ryan haters who dislike his annoying side, not realizing how it makes him a good foil for Mike, this was surely one of Ryan's most likeable scenes in the series.
When Vanessa learns about the fictional Christmas letter, she is furious-until the messages from the family come in telling how hilarious they found the letter. She admits it was funny, she just didn't realize that everyone would see it as a joke and this is why she was upset. Vanessa, who at first was upset thinking Mike's "gift" would cause her other work that was worse than doing all those things, has come around to appreciate not having such a hectic Christmas. She is even shown looking and happily crying at a family photo album, which I observed was clearly displaying Christmas pictures of some of the family, including Boyd. Kudos to the producer (or director) for not just showing any old pictures figuring nobody would notice them as a small part of one scene.
At the end, the family is opening presents on Christmas Day, reflecting on a special, memorable Christmas-without any sappy lines. Kristin even gets involved in a funny bit right at the end-which doesn't need to be spoiled here.
One big plus is that this family actually mentions-not discusses, must mentions-key things concerning the central character of Christmas-Jesus. Understand, there is no religious talk, but so many of the other series in TV history, as well as movies, seem to want to talk about "the true meaning of Christmas" without ever mentioning Jesus or Bethlehem, or anything religious at all. It's fine to have a show totally focused on the secular aspects of Christmas-such as "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Miracle on 34th Street"-but if the characters are specifically talking about the "true meaning" there ought to be a mention, at least, of whose birthday is being celebrated.
This series had several different Christmas episodes and all have been excellent. I believe this episode, a 10 from me, might have been their best. It's always been a puzzle to me that other family TV series-from Leave it to Beaver and My Three Sons to The Cosby Show never even had a Christmas episode. They want you to think of their families as typical American families, but they are indeed unusual if they don't do any sort of Christmas celebration. Then there's The Dick Van Dyke Show, which had the big network star Alan Brady essentially turn his entire variety show over to his staff of a producer, three writers, one writer's wife and son, for a Christmas special that was one of that great series least funny episodes. The series never depicted Rob and Laura dealing with any aspects of Christmas in their own lives, not even with all the possibilities involving their young son.
