* {{Blooper}}:
** When Milhouse dares Bart to pull Santa's beard off, Lewis changes from black to yellow.
** When Milhouse, Bart and Lewis are talking about the fake Santa, Milhouse's eyebrows go from blue to black to blue again.
** When Marge puts the phone down the phone wire disappears. This is more easily seeable in the DVD where you can slow-mo.
** While Marge is writing her Christmas letter, the flames from the fireplace appear over the family's stockings.
** When Marge embraces Homer at the end of the episode, during the first close-up shot, [[https://frinkiac.com/img/S01E01/1309631.jpg the background is upside down]] (this includes Bart's photo and the lamp), but the second close-up shot of Marge and Homer has the background back to normal.
* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: In 2014, it was selected by current showrunner, Al Jean, as one of five essential episodes in the show's history.
* FirstAppearance: Every supporting character aside from Grandpa. That includes Ned and Todd Flanders, Patty and Selma Bouvier, Mr. Burns, Moe, Barney, Principal Skinner, Ralph Wiggum, Sherri and Terri, Lewis, Dewey Largo, Sam and Larry, Snowball II, and Santa's Little Helper. It's important to note that with the exceptions of Patty and Selma and Santa's Little Helper, all the other characters had different debuts if we go by production order.
** This is also Milhouse's first appearance in the series proper (his actual first appearance was in the first Butterfinger commercial).
** Also, Smithers is heard (but not seen) speaking over an intercom.
* MissingTrailerScene: The promo has Maggie feeding steak to Santa's Little Helper and Homer shouting at Bart. Both scenes were cut, though the latter is heard.
* OutOfOrder: Production wise, this is the eighth episode of Season One, though the retools made to the proper pilot ("[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E13SomeEnchantedEvening Some Enchanted Evening]]" ultimately the season finale) led to the show debuting during Christmas and this episode being the series premiere. This becomes noticeable with the above {{First Appearance}}s, with many of them appearing in later episodes earlier in the production line with more fanfare to resemble a proper introduction.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In the earlier drafts of the script, Marge was supposed to show up in the plant drunk, and cause Homer to get fired (which was the original reason why they had no money to buy Christmas presents, and Homer had to play Santa).
* This is the only full-length episode to air in the 80's.
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