On Christmas Eve, Bob is called to deliver food to Mr. Fischoeder's house, only to find himself roped into a cutthroat gingerbread house-building contest. Meanwhile, the rest of the family and Teddy go caroling, and find themselves drawn to a very creepy house.
The Last Trope on the Left:
- Beary Friendly: The winner of the gingerbread house contest gets to cuddle with an albino baby polar bear from the local zoo.
- Brick Joke: In the first scene, when Bob is fretting over the kids' Christmas presents, Linda says, "You know what the greatest gift of all is? Family." Bob makes fun of her for it, but he uses the same line on Mr. Fischoeder and his friends at the end of the episode.
- Christmas Carolers: Linda, the kids, and Teddy go caroling through Mr. Fischoeder's neighborhood hoping to get some hot chocolate and get other people to join their caroling, but they don't get either of those. They finally get what they want when they go caroling at Oscar's house.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Mr. Fischoeder introduces the group as the Gingerbread Gentlemen's Annual Gingerbread House Competition.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- As Bob lampshades, it was not a smart idea for Calvin to relentlessly bully the one person he wants to do something for him, especially when Bob humiliating himself was already part of the initial deal.
- Oscar's attempts to make his house look artistic instead make him look like a reclusive creep. He lampshades that it maybe wasn't the best idea.
- Disqualification-Induced Victory: Bob's gingerbread house is pretty badly wrecked by the end, but the others' are completely leveled, meaning he wins by default while everyone else ties for last place.
- Eccentric Millionaire: The Fischoeders, who are already this, hang out with a whole pack of them.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Mr. Fischoeder and his rich friends can't understand why Bob is so desperate to spend the holiday with his family.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: One of the gingerbread house contestants appears to have one, but he explains it by saying that it's a medical thing that he can't always control while struggling to pull it back down.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: They're only visible in one shot (as a bullet hits Bob's gingerbread house), but Bob made miniatures of his family on his gingerbread house's front lawn.
◊ - Gun Nut: All of Fischoeder's friends. They end the competition by gunning down each other's gingerbread houses, and when the rest of the Belchers show up to carol one of the millionaires asks if he can shoot them.
- Hope Spot: Bob seemingly convinces the millionaires not to gun down each others' gingerbread houses. Until...Fischoeder: Or, counterpoint? (Shoots Bob's gingerbread house at nearly point-blank range)
- I Like My X Like I Like My Y: One of the contestants likes his houses like he likes his women: sturdy and ginger.
- Jerkass: Mr. Fischoeder needlessly abuses and bullies Bob during the competition in order to shift all the insults he's getting from the other old men, who actually praise Bob's craftsmanship which gets under Mr. Fischoeder's skin. This only causes Bob to compete to win it for real to get back at him.
- Jobber: Bob's original reason for being in the competition amounts to this—get last place so Mr. Fischoeder doesn't. He eventually decides to play to win after one insult too many from Fischoeder.
- Mexican Standoff: The competition eventually culminates in this between the contestants, although instead of aiming at each other, they're aiming at each others' gingerbread houses.
- Missing Mom: It was already heavily implied in previous episodes that featured Bob's father, but this episode is the first to explicitly state that Bob's mother is dead.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Bob decides to play to win after he gets sick of Fischoeder's abuse.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Oscar, the guy who lives in the "creepy murder house", is actually a really nice guy despite being profoundly socially awkward and thinking that covering all his windows with blankets is artistic instead of creepy.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: The judge's reaction to the millionaires aiming loaded guns at each other's gingerbread houses ("Here we go") implies they've done this before, although it's also made clear that they haven't actually fired them until now.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Mr. Fischoeder calls himself Bob's favorite landlord.
- Pet the Dog: Bob wins the contest by virtue of his house being the least destroyed. He allows Fischoeder's wealthy friends to cuddle the polar bear cub too.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: It's a Shout-Out to The Last House on the Left.
- Serious Business: The other rich guys get a bit heated in their competition, especially when Bob calls their contest "stupid".
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The scene of the gingerbread houses getting destroyed in comical slow-motion is played over Oscar's haunting rendition of "Adeste Fideles".
- Springtime for Hitler: Mr. Fischoeder attempts this by telling Bob to lose so that Fischoeder doesn't have to wear the "loser's hat" (an old bed pan) for coming in dead last. It backfires when he taunts him one too many times and Bob hears what the prize of the contest is and that it'd be a perfect Christmas present for his kids, leading Bob to play to win.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Mr. Fischoeder advises Bob to build his gingerbread house very tall and unstable so that it topples over, just like his properties. He reassures Bob that his home isn't like one of them...allegedly.
