Carl Winslow is not feeling the Christmas mood. He comes in from work complaining of a con at the police station who goes from city to city, telling the same sob story of having no job and lots of kids, taking advantage of sympathy. Which he has done to Carl. Because Carl “passed the hat” at work to help this guy and the con ended up spending the money on cheap wine and hookers. What a way to diminish someone’s Christmas spirit!

To make his spirit even worse, Carl enters the kitchen to discover neighbor Steve Urkel wrapping gifts. Why Urkel is in the Winslow kitchen wrapping gifts and not his own kitchen, who knows. But you know chaos is about to unfold.

Carl tells Urkel he is there to wrap a crystal music box he bought for Harriet and he sits down at the table to start wrapping. Carl proceeds to rip off a piece of wrapping paper and haphazardly and hysterically wraps the music box as Urkel looks on in disdain.

Urkel: I see you emphasize speed over appearance

Carl: Gifts are like people. It’s what’s on the inside that counts.

Urkel: No, gifts are like fish. Wrap them badly and they stink.

Then Urkel offers to re-wrap the music box for Carl but he is told to be very, very careful. As Urkel prepares to wrap the music box, Carl comments on how well Urkel wraps and inadvertently moves a very heavy gift of a dumbbell, which conveniently falls out of the box when Carl moves it. And lands on the music box. Amazingly, this is not directly Urkel’s fault. No, he didn’t do that! Carl did!

Urkel: You wanna go shopping, big guy?

To which all Carl can do is nod.

In shock, Steve leads Carl out and comments that they need to take the train because it’s snowing.

So it’s Christmas Eve and Steve and Carl are on a subway train in the snow with what looks like a slew of unhappy passengers. Which Urkel discovers when he wishes everyone a Merry Christmas.

And this is after they’ve endured the mall where Carl reminds Urkel of the excruciatingly long lines, rude salespeople and the kid that up chucked in his shopping bag. No sooner does Carl blurt that it’s the worst Christmas of his life, the power on the train goes out.

The passengers are told they should be back up and rolling in just a few hours. That doesn’t stop Urkel from trying to rile up everyone to play games. A man approaches Urkel and says “You see this tree? If you don’t shut up, you’re going to be the angel on top”. Next Urkel mistakens an obese woman for being pregnant. “You know, I could break you in half”, she tells Urkel. Ooops. He did that.

Urkel next encourages a sing-along, to many groans and complaints. He suggests they sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and someone throws something and hits Carl in the head. Steve goes around assigning days to everyone but has difficulty getting anyone to participate. As he continues singing, another item goes flying through the air and again hits Carl.

Meanwhile, back at the Winslow house Grandma is reading the Christmas story from the Bible to the family as everyone is anxiously waiting for Carl to return. And they realize Steve is with him.

Back on the train, Urkel is still singing and the only person contributing is a half-sleeping guy in a trench coat and hat who sings the “five golden rings” part. Next Steve encourages everyone to tell the guy dressed as Santa on the train what they want for Christmas. To which the obese but not pregnant woman replies “I’ve got a better idea. Let’s all take turns pounding your face with whatever objects we happen to bring with us.”

The tree guy approaches Carl and warns him that since he brought Urkel on the train it’s his responsibility to make him shut up. Carl asks Steve why he always does stuff like this. And Steve replies “I just wanted to make everyone feel better”. Carl reminds him that he hasn’t. Which makes Steve feel bad as he sits down and is finally quiet.

You can tell this makes Carl feel bad as he turns to Steve and asks him if he is okay.

Urkel: Carl, it’s Christmas Eve. And everybody’s supposed to be happy. But instead, everybody’s mad at everybody else..

Urkel then stands up and says “Listen, folks,”, to which everyone grumbles. “I know, I know, I know. You’re all tired and hungry and you want to be at home spending Christmas Eve with your families. But does sitting here feeling grumpy make you feel any better? Well, I think not.”

He then approaches various passengers and asks them about their gifts and who they are for. He points out the ring on the obese-not-pregnant woman’s hand and she offers that the ring belonged to Roger’s mother and Urkel asks if this is her first Christmas with Roger and she says “yes” and then he adds, “Will you ever forget it?” And she replies, “No. Never.”

Steve goes on to state that “Christmas isn’t a place… it’s a feeling. It’s the love and warmth of friends and family. It’s a feeling we get in our hearts this time of year and we take that feeling with us wherever we go. Why Christmas can even be here, on this cold, dark train.”

He then grabs the Christmas tree and starts decorating it, followed by offerings from the other passengers. Suddenly the lights on the train come back on and they start moving again. Miraculously, the passenger’s spirits have improved as Carl leads them in a sing-along of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”.

Carl finally arrives home much to his family’s delight. Carl has invited Steve to spend the night because he has reminded him of what Christmas is all about. The episode ends with everyone, including Steve, embracing in a group hug.