Forty-nine years ago to the day this episode aired. How about that? Time flies!

Rog and Dee Thomas are preparing to spend another Christmas Eve and Christmas alone because they are two big party days and their mother, Mabel, has to work. As Rog tells his two friends Rerun and Dwayne, they are used to it, because they spend every Christmas Eve and Christmas day alone. Dwayne invites them over to his house to celebrate with his family but Dee points out “we got our own house and our own folks.”

Then Rog and Dee’s father Bill shows up with gifts. As Rerun and Dwayne prepare to leave, they again invite Rog and Dee to their homes for Christmas but Rog refuses. Bill hears the conversation and realizes his two kids will be home alone on Christmas. Their father insists aggressively that they join him at his place for Christmas. But Dee doesn’t want anything to do with him. And after the way he yelled at both Dee and Rog, who can blame Dee for saying “I hate him”.

Dee goes to Rog’s room and says she can’t sleep because she’s scared of her father. Rog makes her feel better about saying she hates her father.

Mabel comes home from work while the kids are asleep and discovers Bill has left her a gift of perfume. Rog then appears in the living room and Mabel tells him she has a surprise for him. Before she can tell him about her surprise, Rog springs Bill’s invite to them on her. And by the look of disappointment on Mabel’s face as she turns away from Rog, you know that her surprise was that SHE was going to be home on Christmas. Which we later learn when she calls her boss to ask if she is needed the next day. But she is told she isn’t needed. And all she probably wants to be at this point is needed by her children on Christmas.

Christmas morning Mabel, Rog and Dee exchange gifts. As Dee is handed a gift she asks in her snarky voice, “Is it something I want or something I need?”. Mabel replies, “What’s the difference?” to which Dee answers, “Well, I feel like being surprised by something I really want.” Mabel: “And what’s wrong with being surprised with something you really need?” Dee: “Nobody’s ever surprised by something they really need. So if this is something I need instead of something I really want, maybe you can exchange it before I open it.” She opens the gift to reveal a beautiful doll which she discovers is from Rog.

Rerun and Dwayne come over with food for Rog and Dee when Bill arrives to pick up Rog and Dee. When they arrive at Bill’s, they discover that Bill’s girlfriend Loretta has a cold and has burned the turkey. Rog suggests they go back to their house to get all the food that ReRun, Dwayne and and their mother have already prepared. When they get there they discover the door is unlocked. Thinking there is a burglar, Bill goes to investigate and gets the door slammed in his face by Mabel.

The group is then seen sitting down peacefully to dinner. And in a final moment, Dee states, “I want to thank everyone for my Christmas presents…but next year there better be a bike.”

FUN FACT: Mabel King, who plays Mabel “Mama” Thomas, was born on Christmas day in 1932.

The posting review of this episode is dedicated to the memory of Danielle Spencer who sadly passed away in August of this year. May the memory of her playing the character of Dee Thomas and her work as a veterinarian live on.

“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.

As with most Modern Family episodes, this one is filled with many funny individual stories, yet they’re all tied together.

Will Phil reach his resolution to walk to Canada on the elliptical machine he received as a Christmas gift the previous year or will the machine be banished to the garage, much to Luke’s chagrin, as he has been hiding the recyclables in the garage for months because he forgets to bring them out to be collected.

Can Gloria and her mother survive the holiday together or will Claire take Gloria’s place in the kitchen with her mother, whom Claire is liking more and more because at least Gloria’s mother doesn’t keep giving her slippers every year for Christmas like DeeDee does.

Jay and Manny take on the task of cutting down a Christmas tree, just like Jay and his father used to do. Minus the cigar and cigarette.

Haley and Alex risk their lives working at the mall as an elf and Mrs. Claus because Santa has gone AWOL and the crowd of kids is getting antsy.

Lily, who only wants a toy called a puppy pound for Christmas, misspelled it on her list and Cam blames Mitchell for not figuring it out. So while Mitchell has to go to the mall in search of the toy, Cam and Lily attend a charity event fundraiser for the needy which, unbeknownst to Cam, is actually not a fundraiser but is FOR the needy.

Cam: “I thought it was a charity event for the needy. Turns out it was a charity event FOR the needy!”

And Lily ends up getting a puppy pound toy from Santa.

Just as Mitchell appears fresh from the mall with gifts for Pepper’s party, Lily gives her puppy pound away to a boy who didn’t receive anything from Santa but wanted a puppy pound.

In the end, Claire and Gloria make up, Jay and Manny get their tree, Haley and Alex survive, Phil makes it to Canada and then goes to the mall to get a puppy pound for Lily and Luke owes six weeks allowance for not taking care of the recycling.

Always a good time with the Pritchett-Dunphy clan.

This episode has us experiencing the Brady’s first Christmas together as a new family and features probably one of the sweetest television scenes between a child and Santa Claus.

Everyone is excited about Carol Brady’s big solo in the church choir on Christmas morning. That is until Carol discovers she has lost her voice. A further diagnosis is that she has laryngitis, probably from all the rehearsing she has done.

So Mike, being the doting husband and Alice, being the handy-dandy housekeeper, go into action to help out. Alice makes a home remedy concoction for Carol to wear around her neck, one so smelly even Alice herself can’t tolerate it. Mike has the boys get the Christmas tree and takes Cindy to the mall to see Santa.

In a touching moment, Cindy tells Santa all she wants for Christmas is for her Mommy to get her voice back so she can sing for Christmas. Of course, Santa reassures her that her mother will get her voice back, much to Cindy’s delight.

She excitedly tells Mike that “Santa’s going to give Mommy her voice back for Christmas”.

Mike: “Oh, honey, how could he do that? He’s not a doctor.”

Cindy: “He’s better than a doctor. He’s Santa Claus”.

Mike goes to the mall locker room and berates Santa for promising Cindy that her mother would get her voice back.

We jump to Christmas Eve and Greg, Marcia, Jan and Peter can’t sleep. One by one they sneak downstairs and sit on the stairs moping. Alice discovers them and Marcia suggests they postpone Christmas until their mother can talk again. The others agree. Then Alice pipes in:

“Ok, it’s unanimous, we’ll cancel Christmas. Take the tree down, get the presents back to the store, I’ll throw the turkey away. Of course, it might disappoint your mother a little. She’s had one tough break already. She and your Dad were looking forward to us all having a wonderful first Christmas together. Well, why worry about how they feel?”

Of course it’s all Marcia’s fault. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

They all agree it’s a bad idea and march off to bed. Of course, when Carol wakes the next morning, she’s humming and realizes—miracles of all miracles—Santa has come through and she has her voice back. Halleluia!

In the final scene we are treated to a beautiful rendition of Carol singing “O Come All Ye Faithful”.

And all was once again right in the Brady household.

The episode opens with Laverne  and Shriley decorating their Christmas tree and singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” off key and at least for Laverne, with the wrong lyrics. Then Shriley discovers Laverne has eaten the stringed popcorn and nibbled a corner off the gingerbread star that has been in her family for eleven years.

They are visited by Rags, a neighborhood bum who organizes a yearly get together at the Pizza Bowl. He’s looking for Frank DeFazio to discuss the plans but can’t reach him. Because he’s playing Santa down at the mall and hanging out with his sidekicks, Lenny the Fairy and Squiggy the Elf while Laverne and Shirley get mauled by shoppers.

One of the kids waiting for Santa calls Santa out when he arrives, attacking Squggy the Elf and Santa and getting Santa fired. This same kid brags to Shirley that he got Santa fired and then spits in her face. (FUN FACT: the kid dissing Santa is Scott Marshall, show creator Garry Marshall’s son).

Laverne learns that her father has been playing Santa for a few days to raise money for the dinner since the Pizza Bowl has been doing lousy business. But now that Santa’s been fired Frank declares there isn’t going to be any Christmas dinner for the bums.

Carmine, Laverne and Shirley decide to try to raise funds by singing Christmas carols on the street corner. Until they’re approached by a street corner Santa and a Salvation Army band. With the three groups vying for some charitable cash, ruckus ensues, a cop gets involved and it’s discovered that Carmine, Laverne and Shirley don’t have a license to solicit money unlike Santa and Sister Sarah and the Salvations do.

Meanwhile Frank is bummed that the bums won’t be coming to dinner. When all of a sudden, Laverne and Shirley rush in with the bums led by Rags. He states that all they want is to just be there at the Pizza Bowl, dinner or no dinner. Although they did bring a can of spam, a can of corn and a banana.

Frank is still disappointed because he wanted to do something special. But Shirley tells him, “Don’t you understand? They don’t come here for just the dinner.” Laverne adds, “That’s right, Pop. They come here so they can be with all of us. That’s what’s special to ‘em.”.

Lenny and Squiggy save the day when they come in with a turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. And now they can no longer date the butcher’s daughter.

And remember, Christmas ain’t turkey. It’s PIZZA!