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Christmas Episode / Western Animation

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Holly jolly episodes of Western Animation.
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  • 101 Dalmatians: The Series had "A Christmas Cruella". This was one of the only episodes released on video.
  • 6teen has actually had three different Christmas episodes, one each season.
  • Ace Ventura: Pet Detective: "The Reindeer Hunter" (the first episode, no less). Someone steals Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve, so to finish his deliveries, he hires Ace to find them. The investigation leads Ace to a businesswoman that's seeking a Fountain of Youth by harnessing the reindeer's gravity-defying abilities.
  • The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius has the episode "Holly Jolly Jimmy". In this episode, Jimmy is trying to forever disprove the existence of Santa Claus, coming off as a Grinch to all his friends. After taking Carl & Sheen to the North Pole, coming across Santa's factory, and "breaking Santa" in a crazy experiment gone awry, it is up to Jimmy to take Santa's job of delivering Christmas gifts to the world.
  • The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police has "Christmas, Bloody Christmas", where the Freelance Police team up with Sam's Granny Ruth to contain a prison break on Christmas Eve.
  • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog had a Christmas episode three years after the series finished, where Sonic had to stop Robotnik from taking over the holiday as Robotnikclaus and forcing everyone to give him presents rather than the other way around.
  • Adventure Time had one in "Holly Jolly Secrets", where the gang finds Ice King's video diary. Funny until it takes a sudden dark turn and reveals the Ice King was actually a man named Simon Petrikov, who was transformed into the Ice King by a magical crown. The tapes then turn into an Apocalyptic Log chronicling his slow descent into madness, and the destruction of his life resulting from this, ending with him begging the viewer to restrain him if becomes so far gone that he's a threat. After watching the tapes, our protagonists feel sorry for him and decide to spend time with him out of pity.
  • American Dad! has several with increasingly bizarre premises:
    • "The Best Christmas Story Never Told": Stan travels back in time to "fix" Christmas, only to have to do it for real when he messes up the past.
    • "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever": Stan dies and goes to the afterlife, and has to go to trial to rescue his family.
    • "Rapture's Delight": The Rapture, followed by Armageddon.
    • "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls": Steve accidentally kills Santa, who is revived and declares bloody murder on the Smiths.
      • The absurdity of each Christmas story even gets lampshaded at the end.
        Jeff: Does your family always have such messed-up Christmases?
        Stan: Yeah, Jeff. And now you do, too.
    • "Season's Beatings": Stan has to kill Hayley and Jeff's new adopted son, who turns out to be the Anti-Christ.
    • "Minstrel Krampus": The Krampus, imprisoned years before by Grandpa Jack, is set free and kidnaps Steve, and Stan and Santa must join forces to rescue him. This was intended for Season 8, but days before it was set to air the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre took place; as the violent climax of this episode was considered insensitive in that light, it was delayed a year.
    • "Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas": Stan wishes he could have Principal Lewis' carefree single life and his wish comes true. Meanwhile, Principal Lewis has to deal with Stan's family.
    • "Ninety North, Zero West": The Smith family must rescue Steve after he is kidnapped and taken to the North Pole. There, Santa Claus is using children to mine for precious stones that he needs to perform an ancient ritual.
    • "Santa, Schmanta": When the Smiths are too busy preparing for Christmas to pay attention to Roger, Roger turns his attention to Steve's friend Snot. Snot teaches Roger about Hanukkah, prompting Roger to convert to Judaism.
  • American Dragon: Jake Long had "Hairy Christmas". In this episode, the titular character rebels against his family's humiliating holiday traditions, but learns the true meaning of Christmas when he has to reunite a lost baby sasquatch with its family.
  • Amphibia: "Froggy Little Christmas", where the Plantars try to understand the meaning of the holiday while Anne gathers materials for a parade float
  • Animaniacs aired two Christmas-themed episodes in 1993 midway through its first season, each featuring assorted Christmas and seasonal segments. One featured "Slippin' On The Ice" (a Singin' in the Rain parody cold open), "Twas The Day Before Christmas" (featuring close to the full cast of season 1), "Jingle Boo" (Chicken Boo as a mall Santa), The Great Wakkoroti performing "Jingle Bells", "Toy Shop Terror" (a mostly dialogue-free cartoon about the Animaniacs wreaking havoc in a toy store), two Good Idea, Bad Idea segments, and the song "Yakko's Universe". The second one had two longer-form cartoons, including "A Christmas Plotz" (a parody of A Christmas Carol) and "Little Drummer Warners" (a musical retelling of the Nativity story.)
    • When the home video "Helloooo, Holidays!" was released in 1994, it was oddly structured as a compilation, ignoring the original episodes' running order. The tape featured each individual cartoon from those two episodes (save for the seasonal but not directly Christmas-themed "Toy Shop Terror") and two feel-good but entirely non-Christmas segments ("A Gift Of Gold" & "Nighty Night Toon", though the former was partially redubbed to add a Christmas reference in lieu of a birthday.)
    • Later Christmas-themed segments were aired as part of otherwise non-seasonal episodes, like "Nutcracker Slappy" in 1995, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and "Noel" in two 1996 episodes, and "The Christmas Tree" in 1998. None aired in episodes premiering in November or December.
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force has several Christmas episodes, in one of them, Santa gives them a bunch of eels as leverage for what they did to him in an earlier episode. Oddly, though, a couple of these 'Christmas' episodes don't even take place at Christmastime, one made special note that the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future showed up at February, and the episode involving the Body Horror they inflicted on Santa happened, and quoted from the man himself, "in the middle of fucking July!". Equally oddly, despite the episode title, the episode "Star Studded Xmas Spectacular" note  has nothing to do with Christmas at all, instead showing deleted scenes from The Movie.
  • Arthur:
    • The one hour special "Arthur's Perfect Christmas" is all about Arthur's goal to have the most perfect Christmas possible for him and everyone he knows. Even when things don't turn out as such in the end, he concludes that it was his best Christmas yet.
    • Averted with the episode "Flea to Be You and Me" / "Kiss and Tell", in that while it first aired on Christmas Day of 2003, neither story has anything to do with the holiday. "Kiss and Tell" in particular seems more suited to be a Valentine's Day Episode if anything.
  • As Told by Ginger has the episode "An "Even Steven" Holiday Special" in which after Ginger finds that she is one quarter Jewish, she tries to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, to Dodie's dismay; this then results in Ginger throwing a party that focuses on both holidays, as well as Kwanzaa. In a sideplot, Hoodsey discovers the truth of why Carl does not believe in Santa Claus. Eventually, Ginger ends up learning the true meaning of Christmas while Carl receives a Christmas miracle and finally reconciles with his father.
  • Atomic Betty did two, both of An Ass-Kicking Christmas variety.
    • The first one was a Two Shorts episode, with the first story being about The Chameleon trying to give Maximus I.Q. a Christmas gift in destroying Atomic Betty for him, and the second having Infantor kidnap Santa Claus (who is a Human Alien from the North Pole Star) to take all the toys for himself.
    • The second season follow this up with "The NO-L 9", where Betty has to stop Maximus from shrinking a constellation of singing planets called the NO-L 9 down into Christmas ornaments and discovers that her grandfather (guest voice of William Shatner) , who was presumed deceased years ago after a space accident, is still alive and living on the NO-L 9, leading to a heartwarming reunion when she brings him back to Earth.
  • Atomic Puppet: As a Two Shorts show, it did "Snow Maniac" and "Hero's Holiday". The former has an evil snowman take over Mega City and transforms it into an eternal winterland with a giant snowglobe. The latter is Yet Another Christmas Carol with AP in the role of Scrooge.
  • In the one-off Christmas special/pilot for Audrey and Friends, Audrey and Constance find a new boyfriend for Audrey's mother Valerie after Audrey's parents become separated and almost divorced as Audrey's dad and his new girlfriend Sienna are having an evening Christmas party at his new Penthouse apartment while Meena (originally named Mona in the pilot) was doing an audition for the Jack and the Beanstalk Pantomime at the playhouse.
  • The Avenger Penguins episode "A Christmas Carol" is a Yet Another Christmas Carol plot with the show's main villain Caractacus P. Doom in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Avenger Penguins convincing Doom to change his ways by pretending to be the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.
  • The Back at the Barnyard had one, "It's an Udderful Life!" in which Santa gets a case of ferret fever, so Otis and the animals vow to make toys and deliver them on Christmas Eve. Also, the episode's sideplot has Eugene (Snotty Boy) wanting a Red Ryder BB taser in a nod to A Christmas Story.
  • The Backyardigans episodes "The Secret of Snow" and "The Action Elves Save Christmas Eve".
  • Bad Dog has "A Very Berkeley Christmas", which has Berkeley abducting Mall Santas because Little Vic accused them of being "Evil Impostees".
  • Both Batman: The Animated Series and its 1997 retool The New Batman Adventures have Christmas episodes: "Christmas with the Joker" (where Batman and Robin deal with the Joker causing mayhem and panic on Christmas Eve while holding Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Bullock and Summer Gleeson hostage) and "Holiday Knights" (an adaptation of the comic tie-in's Holiday Special one-shot consisting of an anthology where Batgirl fights Clayface during her Christmas shopping, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy drug Bruce Wayne to go on a holiday shopping spree and Batman and Robin thwart the Joker's scheme to kill a bunch of people on New Year's Eve), respectively.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold has one, "Invasion of the Secret Santas!", which includes a sadder interpretation of the deaths of Batman's parents.
  • Beat Bugs, which bases its stories around songs by The Beatles, has "Christmas Time Is Here Again", of course, featuring a storyline in which Buzz's Christmas wish is to meet this show's world's equivalent of Santa Claus, the Christmas Beetle.
  • Beavis and Butt-Head had two Christmas episodes. The first has them alternate between commenting on festive music videos (Run–D.M.C.'s "Christmas in Hollis", Daryl Hall & John Oates' "Jingle Bell Rock", etc.) and shooting the breeze while watching a televised Yule log. The second is a double-length show with their takes on It's a Wonderful Plot and Yet Another Christmas Carol, plus "Santa Butt-Head" and his reindeer Beavis reading letters from actual viewers.
  • Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!:
  • Oddly enough, Ben 10 manages to have a Christmas episode despite the series occurring over the course of summer vacation. It involves magic, a Christmas-themed amusement park, and the main character's grandfather being mistaken for Santa Claus. In decades past, year-round "Santa Claus" themed tourist traps were not unheard of. A couple are still operating today. This might have been a nod to that.
    • The 298th overall episode in the franchise, named the The Feels, is also a Christmas-related episode.
  • The Berenstain Bears had an episode in which Papa Bear and the cubs went out to cut down a Christmas tree, but had a lot of trouble doing so due to the strong weather.
  • Big City Greens: In "Green Christmas", with Christmas approaching, Cricket tries to find a way to get on Santa's nice list, but things go horribly wrong while Gramma and Nancy try to find the perfect gift for Bill.
  • The Big Hero 6: The Series episode "The Present" takes place on Hiro's first Christmas Eve since his brother Tadashi's death and is about him trying to get back his present that went missing.
  • The Biker Mice from Mars episode "Chill Zone" took place during Christmas and had the Biker Mice get enraged when Lawrence Limburger's latest scheme indirectly destroys an orphanage.
  • Billy: "Billy and the Christmas Tree" is about Billy imagining he's tiny enough to walk around in a Christmas tree.
  • Bluey has two:
    • "Verandah Santa" from Season One has the Heeler kids and Bandit playing the titular game during Christmas Eve and Bluey coming into conflict with Socks after the latter bites the former.
    • "Christmas Swim" from Season Two is about Bluey introducing her new toy Bartelbee to her family on Christmas Day.
  • Bob's Burgers:
    • The season 3 episode "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins" has the Belchers take in Chet, a man who thinks he's a mannequin brought to life, whom they find living in a storage unit Bob inherited from his late Uncle. Chet proves to be great at making (and posing in) window displays, but pines to see his long-lost mannequin wife Nadia.
    • Season 4's "Christmas in the Car" has the Belcher family going out to buy a last-minute Christmas tree (after Linda buys their first two trees way too early), only to find themselves terrorized by an antagonized candy-cane truck driver.
    • In season 5, "Father of the Bob" sees the family visit the burger restaurant of Bob's estranged father on Christmas Eve, where Linda tries to whip up her own "Christmas miracle" and get the two to make amends. Meanwhile, the kids raid their grandfather's basement for stuff to make a last-minute present for Bob.
    • Season 6 has "Nice-Capades", where Louise tries to get herself and her siblings back in the good graces of a Mall Santa with an ice-skating show.
    • In the season 7 episode "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left", Bob gets entangled in a gingerbread house-building contest with Mr. Fischoeder and his rich friends, while Linda and Teddy take the kids caroling.
    • Season 8 had the two-part Musical Episode "The Bleakening", where Linda tries to track down the thief who stole the Belcher family's decorations from a Christmas party. Meanwhile, the kids become convinced the ornaments were stolen by monster like The Krampus called the Bleaken, and try to track it down.
    • In the season 9 episode "Better Off Sled", the Belcher kids get into a turf war over their favorite sledding hill, while Bob tries to help Linda with some hand-knitted Christmas presents.
    • In season 10's "Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas", Linda gets a temp job at the post office sorting mail, but takes it upon herself to defy postal protocol and deliver a forgotten package on Christmas Eve. With Louise and Gene tagging along in hopes of finding a last-minute gift for Tina for their kids-only gift exchange, Tina and Bob are left to deal with Linda's cranky parents and neurotic sister by themselves.
    • In season 11's "Yachty or Nice", Bob ends up catering at the Glencrest Yacht Club's holiday party, but when he learns his rival Jimmy Pesto was the one who recommended him, Bob becomes paranoid that it's part of an elaborate prank on Jimmy's part.
    • In season 12's "Gene's Christmas Break", Gene accidentally breaks an old, rare record containing his favorite Christmas song, and struggles to find a new copy, while Teddy tries to organize a secret Santa that turns out to be another excuse for him to hang out with Bob and Linda.
    • In season 13's "The Plight Before Christmas," it turns out Gene, Tina, and Louise all have Christmas-related performances on the same night and Bob and Linda have to figure out how to be there for all three kids.
  • BoJack Horseman: BoJack and Todd watch the "Sabrina's Christmas Wish" episode of Horsin' Around.
  • In the Bonkers episode "Miracle at the 34th Precinct", Lucky Piquel is pressed into service as a substitute Santa when the real one is injured.
  • Boo Boom! The Long Way Home: Episode 24, which is set on Christmas Eve. Boo-Boom and the animals, a group of German soldiers, and a group of Allied soldiers all end up lost in the same woods, and through sheer coincidence, they run into each other at a cave Boo-Boom and his friends were using as shelter. When they notice Boo-Boom is in a bad condition due to the cold, both groups of soldiers put their differences aside to help him, which leads to all soldiers realizing they all want the same thing, peace. After celebrating Christmas Eve together, they part ways on friendly terms. Meanwhile in a nearby village, Boo-Booms parents help the villagers set up their own Christmas celebration.
  • The Boondocks episode "A Huey Freeman Christmas" where Huey is given the task of creating a Christmas play for his school.
  • Bump in the Night had an hour-long Christmas special called "'Twas the Night Before Bumpy", which had Mr. Bumpy scheme to steal all of Santa's presents for himself before accidentally doing Santa's job for him and learning the value of giving.
  • The Christmas Episode of Bunsen Is a Beast was "Bunsen Saves Christmas", where Bunsen and Mikey had to stop Amanda from ruining the holiday after she took over the North Pole.
  • Buzz Lightyear of Star Command had "Holiday Time", which is about a holiday called "The Holiday" with Santa being from "North Polaris" and Elf-G-Ms.
  • Despite taking place in the summer, Camp Lazlo had "Kamp Kringle" where Santa comes to Camp Kidney for a permanent vacation, so the Bean Scouts have to convince him to get back to work.
  • CatDog: In "A Very CatDog Christmas", Cat sells himself and Dog to Rancid Rabbit's niece so he can have the expensive gift he wants for Christmas. Santa (who was really disillusioned with the Christmas spirit at this point) is so outraged that he cancels Christmas, and when Nearburg hears about it, everyone is out to get CatDog. In the end, though, CatDog manages to set things right and even get the Greasers to not beat them up for once.
  • The ChalkZone episode "When Santas Collide". After thinking that he didn't get the Christmas present he wanted, Rudy escapes into ChalkZone. There, he finds out that there are eight Santas in ChalkZone due to the amount of Santas that kids draw near Christmastime. And after Rudy causes the Santas to get into an accident, he has to take over for one of them and save ChalkZone's version of Christmas, Christ-Hanukkah-Mas. Until the complete series was released in 2014, this was one of the only episodes to be released on DVD.
  • Charlie and Lola: In "How Many More Minutes Until Christmas?", the eponymous siblings are anticipating Christmas. Then, it seems as though their grandparents can't come because their cat Casper broke his paw. Luckily, they can come, and they bring Casper with a bandaged paw.
  • Chowder's "Hey Hey it's Knishmas", which involved Chowder trying to improve Mung Daal's awful Knishmas gingerbread house, which is needed to satisfy Knish Kringle.
  • There are several Classic Disney Shorts set during Christmas (or just winter) that have frequently been repackaged for television and video compilations over the years. They may take place during the happiest of holidays, but there are few warm feelings to be found...
    • "Donald's Snow Fight" (Donald Duck sings "Jingle Bells" and ends up in an epic snowball war against his nephews)
    • "Toy Tinkers" (Donald faces off with Chip 'n' Dale over the presents under the tree)
    • "Pluto's Christmas Tree" (Chip 'n' Dale wind up in Mickey Mouse's house when he chops down their tree for trimming — and Pluto isn't happy with the "invaders")
    • There were also two Silly Symphonies shorts featuring Santa Claus, and a black-and-white era Mickey Mouse short, "Mickey's Good Deed", set during the holiday.
  • Class of 3000: The hour-long "Class of 3000 Christmas Special" has Lil' D find out that he's on the naughty list when Eddie invites Santa Claus himself over to spend a day with Tamika. However, the only person not happy to see Santa is Sunny Bridges, who has a grudge against the Big Man of Christmas for a childhood incident. Santa decides to make it up to Sunny by inviting him to be head elf for the holidays, but Lil' D's desire to get off the naughty list for himself causes a disaster that puts Christmas at risk of being cancelled.
  • Parodied in Clone High, where the characters celebrate "Snowflake Day", an all-inclusive holiday themed around pirates and tacos for some reason. The plot sees Joan try to ruin Cleopatra's Snowflake Day party and encounter a surprisingly attractive homeless teenage girl who tries to change her views on the holiday while Abe and Gandhi make a get-rich-quick scheme to get money for a present for Cleopatra.
  • The Codename: Kids Next Door episode "Operation: N.A.U.G.H.T.Y." is... well, unconventional as far as Christmas Episodes go. It features a Christmas-themed X-Men Shout-Out (including an elf named Wintergreen with "claws of solid peppermintium"), a prominent Ship Tease, and comic-book-style narration. When you consider that the show was produced at a New York City animation studio, where tons of independent and experimental filmmakers live and work, it makes sense.
  • Creative Galaxy has this in the first season and is called "Baby Georgia's First Christmas / Christmas Memories." The first installment is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, focusing on Arty helping his baby sister Georgia to have a good first Christmas. The second involves Arty and his friends making a photo book of treasured Christmas memories.
  • The Crumpets sequel Teen Crumpets has a two part Christmas special titled "Joyeux Noël..." and "... et bonne année !" where the gang spend their Christmas vacation in the remote snowy mountains. These episodes are the final episodes in numeric order, but not the last ones to debut (their debut marked the premiere of season 4) and probably not the last in chronological order.
  • The TV adaptation of Curious George has the one hour special "A Very Monkey Christmas" where George and The Man with the Yellow Hat can't decide what to give each other for Christmas, and a friend of George has a very similar problem of not being able to write a new song for Christmas.
  • Danny Phantom has "The Fright Before Christmas", with 85% more rhyming. (And accurate timing!) After it's established that Danny hates Christmas due to family issues, he accidentally destroys the just-finished Christmas poem written by Ghost Writer, who begins Rewriting Reality with a new holiday poem meant to screw over Danny.
  • Dan Vs. has the episode "The Mall Santa" where Dan and Chris get part-time jobs at a mall's Christmas display. It turns out that Dan, despite what you might think, loves Christmas, but swears revenge on the Jerkass Mall Santa for besmirching the holiday.
  • The Darkwing Duck episode "It's a Wonderful Leaf". Green Thumb Super Villain Bushroot turns all the Christmas trees in Saint Canard against their owners.
  • Denis and Me: In the episode "Santa Who", when Santa Claus comes to Denis' house, Denis decides to make him comfortable while Sir Meows-A-Lot tries to catch him. Denis' recliner, however, launches Santa head-first into a vat of cookies, causing him to lose his memory. From there, Denis and Sir Meows-A-Lot need to help him finish his Christmas run.
  • Dexter's Laboratory had a Christmas short that ended with Dexter and Santa discussing what the holiday's really about. Dexter argues with the usual (family and things like that)... surprisingly, Santa says "No, (it's about) presents." This is the same conclusion reached by the kids in "The Spirit of Christmas," as seen below.
  • Doc McStuffins
    • Season 2: "A Very McStuffins Christmas"
    • Season 5: "The Doc McStuffins Christmas Special"
  • Donkey Kong Country had an episode focusing on a very similar holiday, the Kongo Bongo Festival of Lights. (Maybe they called it that because the writers were non-denominational.)
  • On Dora the Explorer, Boots asks Dora if Swiper would swipe on Christmas; Dora tells Boots not to let his guard down. She turns out to be right, but once Swiper is told that he just swiped a present meant for Santa Claus, he gives it back and scampers off in peace.
    Dora and Boots: *Sincerely* ¡Feliz Navidad, Swiper!
  • Doug had two. The Nickelodeon one, "Doug's Christmas Story", which featured what seemed to be a good Christmas gone wrong, with Porkchop taken to the pound and then court after injuring Beebe (he was actually trying to save her). Also the darkest episode of the series. The Disney one, "Doug's Secret Christmas", involved Doug's baby sister being born, and was aired in primetime on ABC as opposed to Saturday morning.
  • DuckTales (2017):
    • "Last Christmas!", a Mickey's Christmas Carol send-up that sees Dewey Duck traveling to Christmas Past and finally meeting his Missing Mom Della.
    • "How Santa Stole Christmas!" involves Scrooge having to help his most hated rival, Santa Claus, in delivering presents, while Webby learns why the two have a feud in the first place.
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy had two. "Fa-la-la-la Ed", which had Ed celebrating Christmas in July, and "Jingle Jingle Jangle", where Eddy learns what Christmas is supposed to mean. Then he steals all the presents.
  • Evil Con Carne had an episode called "Christmas Con Carne", where Hector Con Carne's Evil Plan was to take over Santa Claus's body and make it so that the presents he was going to deliver would contain mind control devices. In the end, Hector's plan is thwarted by a green-nosed reindeer named Rupert.
  • The Face's Music Party episode "Face's SuperSnowtacular Holiday Special" has Face host a winter themed dance party at a ski resort while explaining the joys of the three main winter holidays in the U.S.: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.
  • The Fairly Oddparents had a Christmas episode where Timmy wishes for it to be Christmas everyday. Unfortunately, the other holidays aren't too happy about this...
    • They got a new one for season six, "Merry Wishmas".
    • There's also the second live-action film, A Fairly Odd Christmas.
  • Family Guy had a Christmas episode early in its second season, and its second only appeared 7 seasons later! The second, "Road to the North Pole", explores the Fridge Horror of the Santa mythos; it's pretty dark, even by Family Guy standards, which is unusual for a Christmas Episode. However, it was well-received. The show has since had a couple more.
  • The Fanboy and Chum Chum episode "A Very Brrr-y Icemas" deals with Fanboy and Chum Chum trying to ensure Fanboy gets what he wants for Icemas by sneaking into Man-Arctica's workshop disguised as his helpers so that Fanboy can re-record his present request.
  • Fancy Nancy: Season 1's episode "Nancy And The Nice List" revolves around Nancy wanting to get on Santa's nice list in order to get a special bike.
  • Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids has one where a husband and wife are in the kids' clubhouse, taking shelter from a snowstorm...and the wife is about to give birth. Very Biblical.
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: "A Lost Claus", where Mac loses his belief in Santa Claus when he finds out that every Christmas, kids create hundreds of Santa Claus imaginary friends, so Bloo tries to restore Mac's faith in Santa.
  • The Freakazoid! episode "In Arms' Way" takes place at Christmastime. One notable scene has Freakazoid running into his archenemy the Lobe while Christmas shopping, and they try to figure out what they got each other for Christmas. While "The Chip" parts 1 and 2 isn't strictly a Christmas story (it's more about the origin story of Freakazoid), the whole plot started because Dexter got a Pinnacle chip for Christmas.
  • Futurama has four Christmas Episodes, two in the original run, and two in the Uncancelled seasons.
  • The Garbage Pail Kids Cartoon episode "Chris Messin' August" was technically a Christmas episode since it involved a bratty kid named Chris Mess impersonating Santa Claus as part of a plan to ruin Christmas, but the episode's title and a line from Terri Cloth in the beginning of the episode indicates that the episode does not take place during Christmas.
  • The Garfield Show has had two - "Caroling Capers" in the first season (where Garfield attempted to go caroling on Christmas Eve in exchange for food, only to fail miserably and observe Nermal and Odie having better luck at it), and "Home for the Holidays" in the second season (which was a half-hour in length and dealed with Garfield trying to help homeless animals find owners on Christmas Eve).
  • The Ghost and Molly McGee: In "Saving Christmas", when budget cuts threaten Brighton's annual Snowflake Festival, Molly tries to convince Andrea's father to help fund the event and save Christmas.
  • G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero had "Cobra Claws Are Coming To Town" where Cobra sneaks into Gi Joe's Headquarters using a shrink ray to hide themselves in toys meant for a Charity Drive for Orphans the Joes are sponsoring. This plan is surprisingly effective as it leads to all the Joes being captured leaving Cobra Commander free to frame them for attacking a nearby town on Christmas Morning using their own weapons and vehicles. The Commander of course can't help but gloat by leaving a key that will allow them to escape just out of reach. But of course, the Joes manage to reach it and use Cobra's vehicles to stop the attack, saving Christmas. Shipwreck's Polly also gets hit by the Shrink Ray's enlargement setting growing to the size of a Kaiju. Oh and somewhere in there Mutt has and gets over his Holiday blues. It's a fairly packed episode to say the least.
  • From The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy comes "Billy and Mandy Save Christmas" where Santa Claus (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried for some reason) has been turned into a vampire and Grim, Billy, and Mandy set out to search for the cure.
  • Hailey's On It!: In "We Wish You a Merry Chaos-Mas", The Professor visits from the future to celebrate the town's Christmas festival with Hailey. When the town's reindeer mascot accidentally gets sent to the future, his absence creates a ripple effect where the festival ended up being such a bombshell, people lost interest in the holiday to the point of not celebrating it anymore, leaving the team to ensure the festival is a success.
  • Hanna-Barbera were all over this trope. They produced so many over the years that they became a hallmark for Cartoon Network to air for years.
  • Harvey Beaks's "It's Christmas, You Dorks" is a half-hour No-Dialogue Episode composed of five unrelated segments featuring the cast's various adventures in the winter wonderland. The segments are divided up with stop-motion scenes of Old Man Winter spreading winter about Littlebark Grove. It's also notable for being the last episode to air on Nickelodeon before the series was moved to Nicktoons.
  • Hey Arnold! has a very poignant one: while trying to figure out what to get Mr. Hyunh for Christmas, Arnold learns that he sent his daughter to America during The Vietnam War; he followed years later but was never able to track her down. Arnold and Gerald spend the episode trying to find her for him, and Helga ultimately manages when they fail.
  • Hilda has "The Yule Lads" where Hilda and her friends have to deal with the titular group who kidnap naughty kids during the holidays for their leader, Gryla.
  • House of Mouse had two Christmas episodes, both of which included recycled Christmas shorts from Mickey MouseWorks.
    • "Clarabelle's Christmas List", where Clarabelle claimed to have Santa's list and everyone at the club attempted to sneak a peek. The repurposed MouseWorks short was "Mickey's Christmas Crisis" (originally titled "Mickey's Christmas Chaos"), where Mickey and his rival Mortimer tried to outdo each other in putting up their Christmas decorations.
    • "Pete's Christmas Caper", where Pete volunteered to play Santa just so he could take everyone else's presents. The MouseWorks short included in this episode was a Universal-Adaptor Cast adaptaton of The Nutcracker.
  • I Am Weasel has "Happy Baboon Holidays" where I.R. Baboon's family comes over for Christmas, but Baboon accidentally leaves them out in the cold. When Weasel finds them frozen, he takes the Baboons to his place for the holidays. A very displeased Baboon decides to get revenge on Weasel by preventing Santa from delivering his presents.
  • Invader Zim featured a full half-hour Christmas episode in the form of "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever". (Thankfully, is still referred to as "Christmas" for most of the episode.) Once the series was canceled, it wound up acting as a sort of series finale.
  • In the Christmas episode for Ivick Von Salza: The Little Lumberjack, the whole town gets together to watch the public Christmas tree's lighting up. When everyone sees Santa's sleigh in the sky, Malta ends up accidentally bumping into a box of fireworks, causing them to light up. One hits Santa's sleigh, sending it crashing into town. Malta has to make up for it by filling in for Santa's reindeer to help him complete his Christmas run.
  • Jackie Chan Adventures which featured the baddies vs. the heroes who's protecting Santa Claus with the help of his maximum security elves.
  • Johnny Bravo had two: A standard seven-minute segment titled "'Twas the Night", where Johnny knocks out Santa and must take over for him (told entirely in rhyme and narrated by Adam West), and a half-hour special called "A Johnny Bravo Christmas", featuring a guest appearance by Donny Osmond.
  • Julius Jr. has the two-parter Worry Bear Finds The Light/Julius Alliday, with honorable mentions of Hanukkah and Chinese New Year. It even includes a special Christmas song, Holiday Lights.
  • InThe Jungle Show, Paul's episode doubles as a Christmas episode.
  • The Justice League episode "Comfort and Joy" is, of course, Christmas-themed. Interestingly, it is the only one-parter episode of the original series. J'onn spends Christmas with the Kents, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern go to a bar in another planet, and the Flash fights The Ultra-Humanite (who stops, once given the opportunity to give Christmas gifts to orphans...). No Batman and Wonder Woman in sight (though it is mentioned that they are on watchtower duty; besides, Batman already got two Christmas episodes in Batman: The Animated Series).
  • The Justice League Action episode "Party Animal" has shenanigans ensue when Plastic Man brings Solomon Grundy to Green Arrow's Christmas party.
  • Kaeloo: Episode 69, Episodes 103 and 104 (together forming a Multi-Part Episode) and Episode 105.
  • Kappa Mikey has "A Christmas Mikey", which takes 3 of the most parodied holiday stories in the English language and twists them around into one sequel-of-sorts to the show's pilot! Produced as the season finale, it's regarded as among the best episodes in the series.
  • Kate & Mim-Mim has "A Christmas Wish", in which Kate wishes for her father to be home in time for Christmas.
  • Kim Possible had the Christmas episode "A Very Possible Christmas", complete with a Show Within a Show Christmas special: "The Six Tasks of Snowman Hank", of which Ron and Drakken both turned out to be fans. The episode had the usual action, and also lots of snow-fueled wackiness. And singing. And dancing. And mistletoe.
  • King of the Hill has several:
    • The first was Season 2's "The Unbearable Blindness of Laying," in which Hank goes hysterically blind after accidentally seeing his mother and her boyfriend having sex on the kitchen table.
    • Season 3's "Pretty, Pretty Dresses" was more of a Tear Jerker as it sees Bill's suicidal depression over his wife Lenore leaving him on Christmas years ago, which spirals into him believing he is Lenore.
    • In Season 5's "Twas The Nut Before Christmas", Bill turns his front yard into a Christmas Village, but keeps it and his Santa costume around well after the holidays—and then a slacker moves in to mooch off of him.
    • Season 6 had "The Father, the Son and J.C.," where things come to a head between Hank and his father, who holes himself up in an immigrant family's Habitat for Humanity house while Jimmy Carter tries to make peace between them.
    • Finally, season 9's "Mrs. Wakefield" is about an old woman who used to live in the Hills' home, and keeps trying to break in so that she can die in it. The climax takes place during the family's Christmas party.
  • Krypto the Superdog: "Storybook Holiday and Iguanukkah".
  • League of Super Evil had "The Night Before Chaos-mas", where the titular gang of Harmless Villains steal presents from other, more competent villains, only to encounter Kinder Kreep.
  • Let's Go Luna!: "Luna's Christmas Around the World" is about the Circo Fabuloso accidentally stranding itself in Antarctica on its way to a Christmas celebration in Australia. While looking for an ice pick to free the boat that was carrying the Circo, Luna and the kids find a little duck and try to identify what country he comes from; while trying to figure out the duck's home country, Luna and the kids learn about various international Christmas traditions from some of the people from the Circo.
  • Little Princess had the episode "I Want to Be Good", in which the princess tries to be good for Christmas. There's also "Merry Christmas", in which the Princess's great-uncle Walter can't visit for Christmas because he was snowed in, so they visit him instead.
  • While a number of Looney Tunes shorts are set in winter, there are next to none that specifically have a Christmas theme — there's one with Sniffles ("Bedtime for Sniffles" from 1940), and one with Tweety and Sylvester ("Gift Wrapped" from 1952), and that's it for the classic characters. Occasionally someone would be dressed as Santa Claus, but only to fool someone else (and never anytime near Christmas).
    • There's also a 1933 Merrie Melodies short called "The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives", which is perhaps most notable today for being featured on RiffTrax. Its use of dated racial caricatures may explain why it's never been released on an official Looney Tunes DVD, but it's in the public domain, so it's easy to find online.
    • The 1940 short Holiday Highlights features a Christmas blackout gag with Santa on his sleigh, but this cartoon parodied all seasons in short segments and wasn't otherwise about Christmas. Later, 1946's Holiday for Shoestrings heavily featured elves helping a shoemaker to classical pieces like "The Nutcracker Suite", but given allusions to the characters wanting to play golf, it clearly wasn't meant to be seasonal.
    • After the 1979 premiere of the Christmas Special Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales, its three newly produced segments ("Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol", "Freeze Frame", and "The Fright Before Christmas") were chopped up for inclusion in the Saturday morning Looney Tunes series alongside the vintage shorts. This allowed for more of a Christmas-themed episode than they could previously do, but they still couldn't devote a full one hour episode of The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show to the holiday.note  A couple of Christmas episodes even included the Sylvester & Tweety short "Sandy Claws", even though the cartoon was set at the beach and the title was just a pun about having... sandy claws.
    • A British VHS compilation named Christmas Looney Tunes tried to fill the holiday void by including "Gift Wrapped", the 1979 Christmas shorts (except "Freeze Frame"), and 6 wintertime cartoons, though it's relatively obscure today.
    • Various Looney Tunes TV series would later have Christmas episodes, like Taz-Mania ("No Time For Christmas"), The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries ("It Happened One Night Before Christmas" & "Feather Christmas"), Baby Looney Tunes ("Christmas In July"), The Looney Tunes Show ("A Christmas Carol"), and Wabbit ("Tis The Seasoning".) 2006's Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas is also exceedingly appropriate for the season, albeit as straight-to-DVD movie rather than a TV episode.
  • The Loud House:
    • The show's first Christmas Episode is the Season 2 premiere "11 Louds a Leapin'", wherein Lincoln tries to retrieve a sled confiscated by Mr. Grouse, only to end up learning why Grouse is so bad-tempered on Christmas. In the meantime, the Loud sisters have their own adventures (Lori resists the temptation to open presents, Leni tries to make a good Christmas outfit, Luna tries to come up with a Christmas carol, Luan creating her "12 Puns of Christmas", Lynn and Lucy searching for hidden presents, Lana setting reindeer catchers, and Lola trying to be nice with Lisa scoffing at her). The special is also the show's first half-hour episode, and is notorious for being the one where Mr. and Mrs. Loud's faces are first seen (after being faceless for the previous seasonnote ).
    • In "Season's Cheatings", Lincoln schemes to rig the family's Secret Santa so that he can get a schoolbag he wants for Christmas.
    • In "A Flipmas Carol", the stingy shopkeeper Flip has a dream parodying A Christmas Carol.
    • "'Twas the Fight Before Christmas" has the siblings work with their hitherto-unseen cousins to get their respective dads to end their decades-long feud to celebrate Christmas together again.
  • Love, Death & Robots: In "All Through The House", two children think they hear Santa sneaking into their house on Christmas Eve and go down to take a peek, only to encounter a hideous alien monster eating the milk and cookies they left out. The monster chases them through the house, corners them... and then it upchucks two beautifully-wrapped but mucous-covered presents for the kids and tells them to "stay good" before leaving. The kids are relieved, but the sister can't help but worry "What if we hadn't been good?"

    M-Z 
  • Madeline had the Madeline's Christmas installment, in which the girls (except Madeline) catch colds on Christmas but are cured with a strange, possibly-magical porridge.
  • Magic Adventures of Mumfie had "Mumfie's White Christmas'', which was set two days before Christmas. It chronicled around Mumfie trying to ask the North Wind for snow for his skating party. It also was the only episode of Mumfie that aired on Saturday Morning on Fox Kids, and it won its timeslot.
  • The Magic School Bus has the simply titled "Holiday Special" which has not only a Christmas theme but also Hanukkah & Kwanzaa. The episode is even a musical with several popular Christmas carols re-adapted to fit the episode's lesson of recycling.
  • In The Mask, Edge City has arrested everyone dressed as Santa Claus because criminals tend to dress like him. Unfortunately, Edge PD do not realise that they've arrested the real Santa.
  • Max and Ruby Max's Christmas, Grandma's present, Max's Christmas passed and Ruby's Christmas tree and so many other Christmas episodes.
  • Mega Christmas from Mega Babies.
  • The Men in Black: The Series episode "The Black Christmas Syndrome" the agents had to rescue Santa Claus from aliens.
  • The Metalocalypse episode "Dethmas" had Toki getting into the Christmas spirit and trying to get the others into it, Dethklok's moms coming over and forcing their sons to spend time with them, Murderface and Knubbler hosting a Christmas Special that ended up being funded by the Christian Church (which Nathan was not amused about), and to top it all off, Dr. Rockso crosses the Moral Event Horizon by hocking Toki's presents for cocaine money, getting a handjob from Skwisgaar's mom on national television, and getting Karma Houdinied because Toki suffered Diabolus ex Machina before he could beat up Dr. Rockso.
  • MGM's cartoon studio produced several Christmas-themed shorts:
  • Milly, Molly had an episode named "Secret Scarves" where the titular girls knit each other a scarf for Christmas.
  • In the Milo episode "Milo and the Mysterious Yellow Tree", Milo investigates why one of the Christmas trees in the park is turning yellow, and it turns out to have been poisoned. Luckily, they were able to save the tree and decorate it for Christmas.
  • Milo Murphy's Law has "A Christmas Peril". The central conceit of the show is that the old "everything that can go wrong, will" cliché is a Hereditary Curse, so Hilarity Ensues as the extended Murphy family gets together for the holiday.
  • Miraculous Ladybug's is set between the first and second seasons, and doubles as a Musical Episode. Adrien runs away on Christmas due to issues with his father, and he and Marinette wind up fighting a kindly Mall Santa who gets akumatized.
  • Mirthworms: The first special from 1984 A Merry Mirthworm Christmas. The plot involves the newly arrived Bert Worm accidentally causing havoc in his new hometown. After Bert laments his actions with a sad song, he runs away and it's up to his neighbor Crystal Crawler to find him out in the snow.
  • Molang has the episode "The Christmas Tree", in which Molang and Piu Piu need to find a new Christmas Tree after Molang throws Piu Piu's in the fireplace.
    • Then there's "A Beautiful Christmas Tree", which has Molang and Piu Piu trying to move a massive tree they've chosen to decorate, and then having to help Santa get his reindeer back after they make him lose them.
  • Molly of Denali: "Tooey's Hole-i-Day Sweater" takes place at Christmas and is about Tooey accidentally ripping a hole in his Homemade Sweater from Hell.
  • Moral Orel started with one and ended with one. Note that it wasn't supposed to: the first Christmas episode was supposed to be the first season finale.
    • "The Best Christmas Ever" involves Orel believing his brother Shapey to be the second coming of Christ and Clay and Bloberta's marriage going straight to the rocks, culminating in Bloberta demanding a divorce which she never gets.
    • "Honor" has Orel finally finding a good father figure in Coach Daniel Stopframe, who spends time preparing for Christmas with Orel. However, he has to live with the fact that he'll be limping the rest of his life because Clay was a selfish jerk who was too drunk to get the leg that he shot treated. Clay also comes to term with his bisexuality and confesses his love to Daniel, only for him to reject him. Ultimately, the above events don't ruin Christmas for Orel, as he's seen in the Distant Finale celebrating it happily with his childhood sweetheart Christina, their son, their newborn daughter, and their dog.
  • Parodied in My Gym Partner's a Monkey's "Animas" special.
  • My Life as a Teenage Robot did "A Robot for All Seasons" where Jenny gets mind controlled by a miserable rich boy to ruin Christmas and ends up fighting Santa Claus one-on-one.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has had a few "Christmas" episodes:
  • Nature Cat: "A Nature Carol" focuses on the titular character being visited by three spirits when he wants to have a special Christmas he will never forget.
  • In the Numberjacks episode "Counting Down to Christmas", the Numberjacks help Agent 20 when the Numbertaker, Shape Japer, and Spooky Spoon try to spoil her Christmas.
  • Oh No! It's An Alien Invasion has "Ho Oh No".
  • Oscar's Orchestra: "Oscar Cracks A Nut", a Whole-Plot Reference to The Nutcracker.
  • Packages from Planet X has "Christmas Evil", in which Dan receives an alien package in the form of a bag of toys. Said toys are actually Mind Control devices that Copernicus uses to make the townsfolk attack Dan.
  • The Patrick Star Show has "Just in Time for Christmas". The Star family are celebrating Christmas, when Patrick realizes he's forgotten to get any gifts — his sister tells him that they have to be better than what he got them last year (garbage and used candles). Patrick uses his time-traveling closet to get gifts: a laser from the future as a shaver for his dad, a prehistoric meal for his grandpa, a new tattoo for his mom, and a cute pet monkey for his sister.
  • PAW Patrol has "Pups Save Christmas" and "Pups Save a Bah Humdinger", both of which have the Patrol team up with Santa Claus.
  • The Penguins of Madagascar has the episode "The All Nighter Before Christmas". When the zoo is closed for Christmas, the animals prepare for "Kidsmas" -- their annual celebration complete with decorations, food, gifts and a visit from Santa.
  • The Pet Alien episode "It Comes When You Sleep" has the aliens experiencing their first Christmas, which Tommy explains to be a celebration of... the guy who invented shopping malls. Eventually, the aliens kidnap Santa Claus himself!
  • Phineas and Ferb:
    • Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!. ("Mom! Phineas and Ferb are making a Christmas special!")
    • "A Phineas and Ferb Family Christmas" in Season 3.
    • And two winter-themed ones in Season 4 — "For Your Ice Only" and "Happy New Year".
  • Pig City has the episode "Christmas Ham", where after the DeBoar house burns down, Mikey invites his cousins to spend Christmas with him and his parents.
  • Pingu has a Christmas episode from Season 2 titled "Pingu's Family Celebrates Christmas" takes place during Christmas Eve at the South Pole. Well, uh......no, it doesn't feature Santa Claus. At the end of the episode, the family open their gifts, and they all sing Silent Night (but not in English).
  • Pinky and the Brain had a Christmas episode, aptly titled "A Pinky and the Brain Christmas", which won an Emmy for "Outstanding Animated Program."
  • The PJs has the episode "How the Super Stoled Christmas" which is a take on the classic story of The Grinch, where Thurgood becomes a repossession man for the projects so he can work up enough money to buy the computer Muriel wants for Christmas.
  • PJ Masks: Two: Season 1's "Gekko Saves Christmas", and Season 3's "The PJ Masks Save Christmas". The latter is a two-parter that takes up both halfs of the episode.
  • Popeye:
    • One of the earliest entries in the series was a Christmas episode, Seasin's Greetinks, where Popeye gives Olives a pair of ice skates as a Christmas present, and has to save her when Bluto tosses her into the river.
    • Famous Studios did another one in 1955, Mister and Mistletoe, where Bluto dresses as Santa Claus to woo Olive.
    • An Al Brodax-produced short had the Sea Hag kidnapping Santa.
  • There was a book and tape/record set for Popples titled "A Nutcracker Christmas". The episode that actually aired closest to Christmas for the TV show was about the Popples having an olympics ceremony.
  • The Pound Puppies (1980s) episode "Happy Howlidays" took place on Christmas and had Katrina Stoneheart attempt to get the Puppy Pound shut down by hiding the bills from Holly and revealing them to her when it was too late to pay them on time.
  • Pound Puppies (2010): "I Heard the Barks on Christmas Eve" is a Musical Episode that has the Puppies trying to find a home for a luckless dog named Ralph during the Christmas season, while the Super Secret Pup Club debates the existence of the dog equivalent of Santa Claus, Chris Jingles.
  • The Powerpuff Girls (1998) had "'Twas The Fight Before Christmas", in which Princess Morbucks, the show's resident Alpha Bitch, sneaks over to the North Pole and puts herself on Santa's Nice List, while deeming the other kids of Townsville naughty. Naturally, it's up to the girls to remedy this mistake.
    • The reboot had "You're a Good Man, Mojo Jojo," calling Christmas "Generic Tree-Lighting Day."
  • The Proud Family had a Kwanzaa episode.
  • Punky Brewster: Although it aired in October 1985, "Christmas in July" was about Glomer (Punky's magical friend) claiming to know Santa so he takes Punky and her pals to Santa's North Pole workshop.
  • Puppy Dog Pals
    • Season 1: "A Very Pug Christmas"
    • Season 2: "A Santa for Bob"
  • Rainbow Fish has one Christmas episode "Santa Sword Is Coming to Town".
  • Ren & Stimpy with Ren And Stimpy2x 07 Son Of Stimpy.
  • Ready Jet Go! has a Multi-Part Episode entitled Holidays in Boxwood Terrace, which is also a Musical Episode and a Wham Episode, which focuses on Jet directing a Christmas pageant, while also trying to figure out what the Spirit of Christmas is. At the same time, Mitchell has been tasked by Jet to look for said Spirit, but he wants to become a part of Jet's circle of friends, but doesn't know how to do it. Sean turns out to have an 'amazing singing voice, so he gets to sing the final song in the pageant, but at the last minute, he freezes up in front of everybody. Mitchell then takes over for him, and the entire casts learns an important lesson in friendship.
  • The Real Ghostbusters had "Xmas Marks the Spot" where somehow the Busters end up transported through time to Victorian England where they bust the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future before they can teach Scrooge a lesson. As a result, they alter history and make everyone in the present day despise the Holiday just as much as Scrooge does. Oops. The episode is notable beyond being a holiday-centric episode, however, as Egon has to travel into the Containment Unit to retrieve the Ghosts and get them back to teach Scrooge his lesson. Giving us our best and most complete look at life for the Ghosts inside the Unit itself. Before we had only really seen rare snippets of the inside of the Unit. Before you ask the obvious question of "Isn't a Christmas Carol just a story?", the episode ends with Winston acknowledging that. He also wonders what else is real as sleigh bells can be heard in the background along with a distinctive merry laugh.
  • Recess: "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave". While the show is a Saturday-Morning Cartoon, it was originally considered for primetime on Christmas Day 1998. However, due to the timeslot being pre-empted, ABC had no choice but to show the episode on One Saturday Morning's broadcast on December 26... the day after Christmas. The special was later released on DVD and video with some more episodes and linking material in 2001 as Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street.
  • Regular Show: The show's Christmas episode had Mordecai and Rigby, along with the others, racing to stop a rogue elf from turning every present into explosive bombs. Several other Christmas specials occurred in later seasons, with the group preparing a Christmas prank on Muscle Man, and a killer musician who brings "The 12 days of Christmas" song to life.
  • Rick and Morty:
    • "Anatomy Park", though taking place on Christmas, it mostly involves Rick sending Morty into the body of a homeless man to save his life while Jerry tries to deal with the fact that his mother is in a relationship with another man, something that the family finds no problem with.
    • In "Rattlestar Ricklactica", Morty puts the holidays in jeopardy after he took an Earth snake to a snake planet, which caused them to attack in retaliation.
    • "Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation" has Morty getting a lightsaber for Christmas, only to drop it vertically into the planet and discovers that Rick has been hiding out from the family after replacing himself with a robot since Morty insulted him in the previous episode.
  • Robot Chicken has one for each of its ten seasons.
    • The first, appropriately called "Robot Chicken Christmas Special", featured Christmas related skits from past episodes
    • The "Half-Assed Christmas Special", "Dear Consumer" (aka "Full-Assed Christmas Special"), "DP Christmas Special", "ATM Christmas Special", and "Born Again Virgin Christmas Special" feature new ones.
    • Then there's the episode "Lots of Holidays but Don't Worry Christmas is Still in There Too so Pull the Stick Out of Your Ass Fox News Special" that featured a mishmash of holiday sketches.
    • "The Robot Chicken Christmas Special: X-Mas United" episode was a standalone episode centered on The Nerd traveling to the North Pole out of the belief that Santa Claus was his biological father. The Krampus turned out to be his father instead.
    • And following that, there's "Freshly Baked: The Robot Chicken Santa Claus Pot Cookie Freakout Special - Special Edition" and the "Santa's Dead (Spoiler Alert) Holiday Murder Thing Special".
    • Two years later comes the "Robot Chicken’s Santa’s Dead (Spoiler Alert) Holiday Murder Thing Special". When Santa Claus gets murdered one Christmas Eve, it's up to Inspector Jesus H. Christ to solve the case in this murder mystery holiday special to know who could've done it.
    • We also have the skit "Christmas 1914".
  • Rocket Power: In "A Rocket X-Mas", Reggie and Otto decide to offer a dog walking service over the holidays to earn money to get a special gift for Raymundo.
  • Speaking of Nickelodeon, let's not forget "Rocko's Modern Christmas" in Rocko's Modern Life, in which Rocko implements a party the day before Christmas, inviting everyone over. Unfortunately, it doesn't go as planned when Ed Bighead spreads false rumors about the elves that prevents everyone from coming. Luckily, the shy young elf (who Rocko saved from the crocodiles at the mall earlier in the episode) saves the day by realizing that love is the main ingredient to the Christmas cheer, and everyone comes by to Rocko's house on Christmas day, where the party begins.
  • The Rupert episode "Rupert's Christmas Adventure", where Rupert had to recover all of Nutwood's Christmas ornaments after they're stolen by a bunch of pine sprites and his friend Podgy proves he understands the true meaning of Christmas when he is given all the presents by giving them away to the other children.
  • Rugrats had two Christmas episodes, a Passover episode, a Hannukah episode, and a Kwanzaa episode.
  • The Sealab 2021 episode "Feast of Alvis" parodies the concept with an episode about Murphy putting on a pagent for Alvistide (in honor of a drunk gun-toting Jesus Expy named Alvis) over the objections of Debbie, Quinn and Sparks, because it's offensive to non-Alvians. Word of God is that it was supposed to be a straight Christmas episode, but Executive Meddling forced them to use fictional holidays instead. It makes Murphy look even crazier than usual.
    Murphy: 'Vengeance is mine', quoth Alvis, and then he shot that guy right in the freakin' face!
  • The Secret World of Santa Claus: Given that the entire series revolves around Santa and his efforts to deliver presents to all the boys and girls, every episode qualifies.
  • Sheep in the Big City: "Home For the Baa-lidays" has Sheep planning to visit the farm to celebrate Clearance Day, almost ending up as Lisa Rental's Clearance Day present in the process, and as usual trying to avoid General Specific and his goons from the Secret Military Organization.
  • The Simpsons has had several. Considering that the cast never gets any older, this gets a bit weird.
  • Sofia the First's "Holiday In Enchancia" is set at Wassalia.
  • South Park:
    • The show itself was based on a Christmas-themed animated short made by series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone called "Jesus vs. Frosty". Years after its creation a Fox executive saw the short and commissioned another one called "Jesus vs. Santa" which became popular on the internet and was the impetus to the creation of the series.
    • "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" introduces the titular Talking Poo, who would go on to feature in most of their subsequent Christmas episodes.
    • "Woodland Critter Christmas" parodies all manner of Talking Animal-related Christmas stories, featuring what appear to be family-friendly woodland critters who reveal that they're planning to give birth to the The Antichrist. It ends on such a special note, all the characters have grown and live happily ever after except for Kyle, who dies of AIDS three weeks later.
  • In Space Goofs, the aliens are trying to drive away Santa Claus.
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man season 2 episode "Reinforcement" takes place during the last couple of days leading up to Christmas, with the episode ending with Peter and Aunt May opening their gifts on Christmas morning.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • The first was "Christmas Who?", where the sea-creatures find out what Christmas is, and start to expect Santa, who never came. Squidward (who realized his mistake of ruining SpongeBob's Christmas) then covers up for the dude by giving all his possessions, only to be thanked by the real Santa in the end.
    • A dozen years later, they made a stop-motion special titled It's a SpongeBob Christmas!.
    • Another Christmas themed episode "Goons on the Moon" featured the characters encountering Santa on the moon.
    • Another Christmas themed episode "SpongeBob's Road to Christmas" focused on SpongeBob's trek to the North Pole to give Santa Claus a present.
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil: "Stump Day" revolves around Mewni's equivalent winter holiday, where the citizens of Mewni celebrate the Great Stump that provided shelter for the first Mewman settlers one harsh winter. The B-story "Holiday Spellcial" features the spells in Star's wand celebrating Stump Day, and Spider With a Top Hat unwisely inviting "the new guy", the All-Seeing Eye, to the office party.
  • Static Shock had a Christmas episode which dealt with homelessness — Virgil is forced to constantly miss holiday celebrations over a Bang Baby with the power to cause snow storms. Following the advice of his preacher, he tries to see the Bang Baby as a person and realizes that she's just a scared, anguished, homeless girl who never meant to hurt anyone. It all follows up with Virgil, Richie, and their families attending a massive Christian/Jewish/Islamic celebration at the local church. Very touching, although the Hawkins family already was shown to put massive amounts of time and energy into community service and helping others, so yeah...
  • Steven Universe: "Three Gems and a Baby" counts as one, despite their universe not having a Christmas to speak of, as it aired on the first of December, features heavy snowfall in both the present and past scenes, and has a bizarre take on a Nativity Scene where the Gems bring gifts to a baby Steven, kidnap him in hopes of bringing Rose Quartz back, and ultimately huddle around him and Greg, the latter wrapped in a blue blanket reminiscent of depictions of the Virgin Mary.
  • Superjail! did a Christmas episode starring a Littlest Cancer Patient. It was appropriately horrifying, but - as opposed to 99% of the rest of the show - quite the Tear Jerker at the same time.
  • The Christmas special of SuperMansion was titled "War on Christmas" and had Cooch tricked into releasing a reality-warping villain named Mr. Skibumpers when he offers her a wish, said wish being that Santa Claus was real. In addition to finding a way to return Mr. Skibumpers to his imprisonment, the League of Freedom also have to deal with the wished-into-reality Santa Claus when he snaps at realizing how illogical he is as a character.
  • The Super Mario Bros. (DiC) cartoons had two: "Koopa Klaus" and "The Night Before Cave Christmas". The live-action portion of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! had a Christmas episode titled "Santa Claus is Coming to Flatbush".
  • The TaleSpin episode "Jolly Molly Christmas" has Baloo and friends going on a quest to make it snow in Cape Suzette on Christmas day—and thus restore Rebecca's daughter Molly's faith in Santa Claus.
  • Taz-Mania had the episode "No Time For Christmas". Among the highlights were the Ho Yay mistletoe scene, Digeri Dingo showing his soft side near the end and that one crystal teardrop.
  • Teacher's Pet:
    • "A Dog for All Seasons" has Mrs. Helperman attempt to replace Fala D. Roosevelt Elementary School's traditional Christmas play A Christmasty Christmas in Christmastown by writing a new play that is more inclusive towards the holidays with other cultures, with Spot searching for holiday traditions that are exclusive to dogs.
    • "The Blight Before Christmas" has Spot find out about a dog missing and the owners offering 500 dollars to whoever returns the dog, so he goes to search for the missing pet in hopes that he can use the money to buy his own boy toys instead of settling for the usual dog toys while sharing Leonard's playthings.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) has one titled "The Christmas Aliens", with its story adapted from a one-shot comic book starring Michaelangelo. It even premiered on Christmas Day.
  • Thomas & Friends has had a Christmas episode in nearly each of its seasons. The US dub of Series 3's Christmas Episode was turned into a Thanksgiving Episode, due to the episode of Shining Time Station that it aired on being one itself. Seasons 8-16 called them "winter holidays" instead, despite clearly showing Christmas trees, decorations, and people dressed up as Santa Claus and elves. This led to controversry from fans and had Hilary Fortnam, the daughter of Wilbert Awdry, write to HIT Entertainment expressing disappointment about it. However, Season 17 fixed this by reinstating Christmas back into the episodes.
  • The Tick had an episode, "The Tick Loves Santa!" where the title character was traumatized when he seemingly led to the death of Kris Kringle (actually a crook who stole a costume from a charity bell-ringer). The other heroes try to convince him that Santa isn't real, but he still can't bring himself to fight the revived imposter and his evil duplicates. In the end, it takes the real Santa Claus to convince the Tick that he needs to get over his issues and put the evil imposter in his place. Also includes this gem:
    Arthur: Tick, I don't know. Maybe they're plums dipped in sugar, maybe they're made out of sugar... I just don't know, I never had one.
    Tick: But they're dancing, Arthur... they're DANCING IN MY HEAD!
  • Timon & Pumbaa has the episode "Don't Be Elfish". While at a mall during Christmastime, Timon and Pumbaa want the new "Vinchenzo 64" video game, but cannot afford it. So Pumbaa decides to get a job as the mall's Santa with Timon posing as an elf. While Pumbaa gets along vey well with the kids visiting them, Timon continuously bosses them around, to the point where one of Santa's elves appears and lets Timon know that he's on the naughty list. Realizing his errors, Timon decides to make up for what he did by doing nice things for people, hoping that he will get on Santa's nice list.
    • The Lion Guard has the episode "Timon and Pumbaa's Christmas". After hearing about Christmas from some other animals and celebrating it personally for a few years, Timon and Pumbaa introduce the holiday to the Pridelands. The Lion Guard has all the other animals help perform the special song "The Twelve Ways of Christmas" in order for a man named "Dandy Claws" to show up and bring everyone presents.
  • Tiny Toon Adventures' "It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special" starred Buster Bunny in the Wonderful Life parody.
  • Toon Bops has "It's Christmas", which features Santa Claus doing his rounds on Christmas Eve.
  • Despite being shown during late April, the Transformers: Animated episode "Human Error" occurred during Christmas. Sari introduces the Autobots to Christmas, the Autobots indulge in the Christmas spirit, presents are exchanged and oilnog is drunk... and then it starts getting weird.
  • Tuca & Bertie episode "Sweet Beak" is about "Molting Day", their world's analogue of Christmas.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man's It's a Wonderful Plot, "Nightmare before Christmas", much like the trope namer, takes place on Christmas Eve and Day.
    • Then there's also "The Moon Knight Before Christmas", in which Spidey and the Moon Knight team up to defend Dr. Strange's house against Mysterio's daughter, Frances Beck, who is out for revenge.
  • Two shorts made by Van Beuren Studios are set around Christmastime:
    • "Opening Night", Cubby Bear's first short. Santa Claus even cameos in the opening.
    • The Little King short "Pals" is set during Christmas Eve, and the reused print of the film was even renamed "Christmas Night".
  • The Venture Bros. had a special 10-minute Christmas short after its first season.
  • Wander over Yonder had "The Gift" and "The Gift II: The Giftening", where Wander and Sylvia travel around the galaxy to give presents to everyone they had encounter in their travels, including Lord Hater. When they get to Hater's ship, Hater and Peepers find all their Watchdogs turning into happy zombies from Wander's gift giving.
  • We Bare Bears:
    • "Christmas Parties" sees the Bears getting invited to spend Christmas Eve with Ranger Tabes, Charlie the Sasquatch, and Chloe's family. They also get an invitation to Nom Nom's big holiday bash, and end up leaving the first three parties early (much to the frustration and disappointment of their friends) so they can attend. Then it turns out the invitation to Nom Nom's party was a mistake, and the cranky koala kicks them out as soon as possible. The guilt-ridden bears spend the rest of the night making amends to their friends.
    • "The Perfect Tree" has Chloe and Ice Bear heading out to find the perfect Christmas tree for Chloe's family, while Grizzly and Panda help Mr. and Mrs. Park decorate their house.
    • "Christmas Movies" is about the Baby Bears spending the holidays living and working in a video store, which the have to defend from a thief disguised as Santa.
  • "Just Like Old Times" from Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? takes place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Carmen steals the ill Chief of ACME leading Zack and Ivy to do an invert of the usual routine plays out.
  • ‘’Wishfart’’ had “Christmas Times the Max”. When Dez grants a wish for “Christmas in July”, Santa lets the leprechaun and his friends run the whole show (“I need my rest and besides, I’m a terrible sweater.”). However, Dez doesn’t do a very good job and ends up ruining the holiday for everyone, forcing Santa to step in and set things right.
  • Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!
    • Season 1: "O' Figgity Fig Tree"
    • Season 2: "Great and Grumpy Holiday" & "The Super Special Gift"
  • X-Men: Evolution has "On Angel's Wings", where Scott and Rogue (who has a crush on him) are the only students left at the mansion during the holidays. The plot involves them chasing rumors of an "angel" (guess who) who's been performing miraculous rescues.

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