“There’s a plague! It’s an epidemic! It’s called Christmas!”

This is Mork’s first impression of Christmas on Earth. And he’s not far off. And he thinks everyone wants to beat up Monty Hall and his family because they’re yelling “Deck the halls! Deck the halls!”.

Mork is in such a panic and thinks the whole town is under martial law because “there’s a little fat dude in a red suit on every corner and he’s called SANTA CLAUS! And people are really sick because they’re putting plastic babies on everybody’s lawn covered in straw.” Even Mindy can’t help but laugh at his hysterics. Of course, she explains that what he’s seeing is just a part of the Christmas holiday and even mentions how the holiday is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and Mork replies “Oh, is that the guy with the glasses that runs Boulder stereo?”.

Then Mindy’s friend Susan (played by Morgan Fairchild) stops by who just invites herself in and starts discussing Christmas. She mentions how she’s going to be all alone on Christmas because her rich married boyfriend Patrick will be spending it with his wife. Mork goes to inadvertently invite her to Christmas and Mindy stops him, reminding him that they were going to spend Christmas with her father and grandmother. And that Susan is so “ugh” and “inflated”. But Mork convinces Mindy with his puppy-dognishness and then invites her by saying “Susan, even though you’re ‘ugh’ and ‘inflated’, would you like to spend Christmas over here?” Of course she would.

Mork’s main munchkin Eugene comes by with a Christmas tree and explains to Mork what Christmas is all about, decorating the tree, eating turkey and gifts. Susan stops in with a Gucci angel for the top of the tree and Mork sets it free yelling “Fly little friend, be free!” and sends it crashing to the floor. Once Susan leaves saying “Ciao” to which Mork replies “Pekingese”, Eugene explains further about gifts, indicating that it’s not the getting that’s great, but the giving. So he and Mork go shopping. Which with only twelve dollars to his name, doesn’t go well for Mork. Then Mork suggests he make gifts, which he thinks is illegal but Eugene encourages him and tells him making gifts is fine. Mork mentally makes a list, indicating he needs to get lots of gum.

It’s Christmas Eve and Susan arrives. She mentions the gift her married boyfriend has given her, which she hasn’t even opened, but knows it’s a picture of himself. She knows this because a picture of herself is what she is giving everyone. Mork, disappointed that Mindy keeps trying to stop him from opening his gifts until the following morning, retires to the attic for the night.

The next morning Mindy’s father Fred and grandmother arrive. Mork presents everyone with the gifts he has made: a rug (a literal rug remnant) for Fred because as Mork says “You said you’ve always wanted a rug. Try it on”, a portrait of Liberace made out of old bubble gum for grandma, a bracelet made from dead flies found in the attic for Mindy and the only gift he bought, because Susan had said she wanted something returnable, a saucer because Mindy had said Susan would only appreciate something shallow. Then Mork indicates he has gotten something for the entire house and goes up to the attic to retrieve it. While he’s gone, everyone ponders over their gifts from him except Susan, who has opened her gift from Patrick to discover it’s not a picture of himself, but instead a $1,000 bill. Suddenly Susan needs to leave because now she realizes she has to give Patrick something better than a picture of herself. As she leaves, she turns to everyone and, still thinking Mork is out of earshot, declares about her $1,000 bill “This is what Christmas is all about. Not those stupid presents Mork made for us.” But Mork overhears everything and is left feeling bad about his gifts.

In the end, Mork gives everyone the best gift of all. A thought. Because it’s not the gift, it’s the thought that counts. He gives Mindy the thought of a dog she had when she was a little girl, grandma has the thought of her husband and her first Christmas with him and for Fred, the memory of holding his daughter for the first time.

Robin Williams was and always will be a comedic master and his acting debut as Mork still proves that to this day. I hadn’t seen this episode in a very long time and it was so much fun to revisit. May his memory live with us forever.