As many television programs have over the years, “Family Ties” took a cue from Dickens for this rather entertaining Christmas episode.

It’s Christmas time and Alex P. Keaton just isn’t feeling it.

He comes barging into the house just as the family has lit the Christmas tree, complaining about the snow.

Alex: They can put a man on the moon, but they can’t stop this white slop from falling out of the sky.

He goes on calling Christmas phony and states that people just pretend to have the so-called Christmas spirit.

Jennifer is coughing because she has a cold and Elyse asks Alex if he picked up the cough medicine.

Alex: No, I forgot. I’ll get it tomorrow.

Elyse: Tomorrow’s Christmas, Alex.

Alex: Yeah, so?

Elyse: So the stores will be closed.

Alex: All day?

He then suggests they don’t exchange gifts this year, much to everyone’s surprise.

Steven: That’s a heartwarming thought, Alex. But we’ve already got our gifts for you.

Alex: Ah!

Jennifer: You know, Alex, just because you’re an old Scrooge, why do the rest of us have to suffer?

Alex: Because we’re family, Jennifer. We do things together.

Steven then tries to get everyone in place for the annual Keaton family photo in front of the tree.

Alex: I refuse to participate in this ridiculous ceremony for a ridiculous holiday.

Alex retreats to his room where he’s still mumbling about the awfulness of Christmas. Just as he gets into bed, carolers are heard singing outside. He goes to the window and yells at the carolers to get off the lawn before he calls the cops.

As he gets into bed and drifts off to sleep, Jennifer appears in apparition mode and a cloud of smoke. Alex wakes up and asks her what she’s doing.

Jennifer: I am not Jennifer. I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Alex: Yeah, and I’m Ed McMahon.

Alex realizes it really is a ghost when he tries swiping at Jennifer and can’t. Jennifer tells him to “come hither” and Alex says he’s hithering as he grabs Jennifer’s sleeve and she leads him away to somewhere even Marty McFly had never been: the Keaton’s living room ten years before.

Elyse walks in carrying baby Jennifer, followed by Alex ten years younger. Young Alex announces he’s finished balancing his mother’s checkbook. Young Mallory comes skipping in and begs to open presents. Young Alex turns on the TV just in time to hear about new evidence linking Nixon to the Watergate break-in of the year before.

Young Alex: This is a witch-hunt!

Steven enters the living room dressed as Santa and doesn’t fool any of the kids.

Mallory opens a toy phone and Elyse asks Alex if he’s going to open his gift and he says he wants them to open theirs first because that’s the real joy, watching other people enjoy your presents.

Jennifer: Hear that, Alex?

Alex: I heard it, I heard it.

Then Young Alex suggests they all take a picture around the tree. So he’s the one that started the tradition. The family then starts singing and Alex wants to stay but Jennifer says because of regulations, they need to leave.

Back in Alex’s bedroom, Jennifer asks Alex if he’s learned anything tonight. Alex admits maybe he went overboard earlier and has lost his youthful zest for Christmas. And he feels badly about it.

Mallory appears in apparition form and Jennifer leaves, stating that her shift is over and Mallory is there to relieve her. With all the smoke that appears with each of these “spirits”, Alex declares he hopes someone got him a smoke alarm for Christmas.

Mallory tells Alex to “arise and come—”

Alex: I’m hither, I’m hither.

Mallory reveals she is the Ghost of Christmas Future. And you know this is going to be interesting.

She insinuates that Alex is not going to like the future and he doesn’t want to go but Mallory tells him he has no choice and off they go through the wall.

They arrive back in the Keaton’s living room and it looks much different than it did in the past.  A clothesline is strung across the room. The furniture is bare and sparse.

Alex: What a dump. This can’t be our house. How did this happen?

Mallory: The Keaton family fell upon hard times, Alex.

Alex: All of us?

Mallory: Oh, you’re okay. You live in New York now. You’re a very wealthy man.

Alex: What a shame about the family. Just how wealthy am I?

Elyse enters the room through the door singing and grabs a very diminutive tree and places it near the sofa.

Alex asks about the clothesline.

Mallory: Oh, that’s how they eke out an existence now. Mom takes in laundry.

Elyse calls Steven down to see the Christmas tree. Steven enters looking old, walking with a cane. Mallory appears looking pregnant. Her husband is in debtor’s prison because Alex put him there because he couldn’t repay the money after his grandmother’s operation. Squeaking is heard off camera and Steven announces Jennifer is home early from work. We learn that Jennifer has a wheelbarrow and sells dirt for a living. Elyse keeps hanging herself on the clothesline as she goes back and forth throughout the room.

Jennifer comes in talking with a raspy voice and Alex asks what’s wrong with her voice. Mallory offers that she’s got an advanced sore throat and has had a cold for thirty years and has been trying to save up for some cough syrup. Jennifer comments that it’s a beautiful tree and Alex says it’s a terrible tree and wonders why his father just didn’t back over a tree like he used to. Mallory explains that they don’t have a car and the wheelbarrow is their only means of transportation. They decorate the tree with the one strand of tinsel Steven has. Elyse cries and says she remembers when Alex sold them that tinsel at cost.

Suddenly there’s the sound of a helicopter and everyone gets excited because it’s Alex coming to visit. The helicopter lands in the front yard and crushes the wheelbarrow. Their only means of transportation. They get excited again because they see Alex carrying a bag full of what they think is presents. In walks Future Alex, dressed in a suit, overcoat and bald.

Alex: Oh, no, what happened to me?

Mallory: You lost your spirit.

Alex: Never mind my spirit. What about my hair?

Elyse asks if he ‘s coming to spend Christmas with them and he laughs. Steven asks where he’s going and he tells them Vegas.

Future Alex: I just thought I’d stop by, drop off the laundry.

He tosses the bag at Elyse and she gets excited that Alex wants her to do his laundry again.

Future Alex gets down on his family about their way of life, how his father is still harping about losing his job, although Steven admits Alex was right to fire him, how Jennifer is still coughing, how Mallory is barefoot and pregnant again.

After berating them, Future Alex gets up and says “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed my company, I don’t feel comfortable here. I’m ashamed of all of you. Merry Christmas”.

Alex tries to stop him, saying these people need food and you can’t leave them like this but Future Alex leaves.

Back in Alex’s room, Alex admits he did not enjoy that at all.

Alex: Tell me, Mallory, I—I got to know. Does that future have to be? Can I change it? I don’t want to be bald.

She tells him the future is the only thing he can change. Shit. He should know this already. He’s already been back to the future, what, three times? Oh wait. That’s Marty McFly. Wrong Michael J. Fox character. Onward.

But Mallory gives him good advice: be good to your family, share your good fortune with others and most importantly, massage your scalp every night.

Alex thanks her for showing him the jerk he was in the past and the jerk he was in the future and she reminds him about being a jerk in the present.

It’s finally Christmas morning and the Keaton family is in the living room. Mallory is begging to open gifts. Elyse reminds them they promised to wait until Alex returns but they don’t know where he’s gone.

In walks Alex dressed in a Santa hat and beard carrying a sack. He’s been shopping at the 7-Eleven, the only place open. He gives Steven a cup of coffee, for Mallory he gives beef jerky, for Elyse he gives a TV Guide and for Jennifer he gives a six pack of cough syrup. Mallory also discovers a bottle of Bald No More. And he found a one-hour laundry open and had everyone’s clothes cleaned and pressed.

Elyse asks Alex what has gotten into him.

Alex: I’m happy. Can’t a guy be happy on Christmas? I mean, look at this house. There’s no laundry hanging across the room. We have a tree with real needles. Jennifer’s clean. Mallory’s not pregnant.

In the final scene, the family gathers around the tree for the traditional Keaton photo, the tradition that Alex started when he was a kid and all is right in the world of Alex P. Keaton once again.