Recap / How I Met Your Mother S 2 E 11 How Lily Stole Christmas

After hearing an insulting message left by Ted on Marshall's answering machine before she and him got back together, Lily almost takes back her annual Christmas festivities.

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This episode provides examples of:

• Bittersweet Ending: Because Lily was keeping the Christmas decorations at her apartment out of spite (because of Ted refusing to apologize), Ted decided to go spend Christmas with his cousin (something he did not want to do) so that Lily would return them before Marshall got home. ...and then, after hearing Marshall's story, Lily and the others go and convince Ted to come home, with Lily and Ted patching up their differences.
  • ...but not before Lily accidentally said "Grinch" in front of Ted's cousin's children...
• Both Sides Have a Point: Ted is angry at Lily for leaving Marshall and not apologizing to the people in Marshall's life that were hurt in her actions, while Lily is angry at Ted for secretly holding a grudge against her and not apologizing for verbally retaliating at her.
• Bowdlerise: This episode is the first time Future!Ted uses substitute words to censor bad words such as "Grinch" (Cunt), "Fudge" (Fuck).
• Brick Joke:
  • Ted's Embarrassing Middle Name was wrongfully stated by Barney at the beginning of the episode. It's later said in a correct manner by Ted's mom via Full-Name Ultimatum.
  • Barney begins his catchphrase and falls asleep on the couch after "wait for it." When Ted leaves and slams the door, he jolts up and says "-dary."
  • Marshall asks Lily to save the cookie dough bowl for him on his way out in the morning. The last scene shows him sitting down to thoroughly enjoy it after everyone has gone to bed.
• Call-Back: The events in this episode is triggered by Lily abandoning Marshall at the Season 1 finale.
• Christmas Carolers: To explain their sudden appearance on someone's doorstep on one occasion, Ted says he and the others are carolers and sing "Silent Night".
• Christmas Episode: For Season 2.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Ted's mother Virginia appears with her new boyfriend.
  • Ted's cousin Stacy and her family was first mentioned by Virginia earlier this season.
• Continuity Snarl: Virginia's new boyfriend is stated to be named Frank. He's renamed Clint and is established as such starting this episode.
• Country Matters: The plot revolves around Lily finding a voicemail from Ted where he calls her "the c-word" and breaking all ties with him. For the sake of his kids, Future Ted replaces every use of the word with "grinch", so that's what the audience hears.
• Delivery Guy Infiltration: When Ted goes to apologize to Lily^note who stole Ted's Christmas decorations out of anger, he knocks on her door prompting Lily to stand on a stool and grab a bat as she asks who it is. Ted (in a fake voice) claims to be the pizza delivery guy and Lily lets him in, only to find out that he tricked her.
  Ted: Did you actually believe I was the pizza delivery guy?
  Lily: Nah. I just thought you brought pizza.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Lily being called a "Grinch" is enough incentive for her to steal all the Christmas decorations, not even considering Marshall's feelings on the matter.
  • Apparently, Lily's landlord believes the use of potty language is enough to warrant shutting off utilities.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Unlike later episodes where Future!Ted uses the euphemism "eating sandwiches" to cover up his, Lily, and Marshall's pot-smoking days, here it's not covered up at all.
• Eiffel Tower Effect: The Empire State Building, Rockefeller and Manhattan were shown at the beginning of the episode.
• Embarrassing Voicemail: Lily hears a voicemail from Marshall's answering machine where Ted calls her a "grinch" for breaking up with Marshall over the past summer. She feels insulted and takes down all the Christmas decorations.
• Event Title: The episode refers to Lily stealing the Christmas declarations at the apartment.
• Exact Words: When Robin asked Ted if he apologized to Lily for calling her a "Grinch", he said he said sorry.
  Robin: You apologized didn't you?
  Ted: Oh yeah. I'm sorry were the first words out of my mouth.
  (Flashbacks to that scene)
  Ted: I'm sorry, but I'm not apologizing!
• Full-Name Ultimatum: Done by Virginia when she finds out about Ted called Lily a "Grinch".
• Gender-Blender Name: Ted's middle name, Evelyn. Lampshaded when Barney calls Ted by another gender-blender middle name, Vivian, and is promptly corrected.
• Gray-and-Gray Morality: The conflict between Ted and Lily since Both Sides Have a Point.
• The Grinch: After Ted discovers Lily took all the Christmas decorations, he calls her this. Future Ted's narration notes that in this instance he actually did say "Grinch".
• Hypocritical Humor: Lily tells Ted that he should know better than to call someone a "Grinch" because calling people names is hurtful, and ends her sentence by calling him "ass-face".
• My God, What Have I Done?: Pay attention to Lily's face after Marshall's story^note when he explains that Ted gave him the idea for his Christmas present for Lily when Marshall asks where Ted is.
• Never My Fault: The first time Lilly rightfully calls out Ted for calling her a "Grinch", Ted immediately tries to deflect blame onto Barney and Marshall instead of outright apologizing. While Lily's response is a Disproportionate Retribution, the fact still stands that Ted refused to accept responsibility for his behavior.
• Not in Front of the Kid: Lily accidentally says "Grinch" in front of Stacy's kids. Not only do they ask what it means, but they repeat it over and over.
• Parent with New Paramour: Ted's mom with Clint.
• Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title alludes to the Dr. Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.
• Precision F-Strike: What "Fudge" really means.
• Screw the Electric Bill: It lampshades this in the Christmas Episode variety. After seeing Lily's "winter wonderland" decorations, Marshal first says how amazing the are followed by "And thank God we don't pay for utilities."
• Shout-Out:
  • invoked Ted notes that Lily would laugh at almost anything, even something as bad as Weekend at Bernie's II.
  • The way Marshall runs when he tries to catch up with the delivery truck is a reference to Kevin running in Home Alone 2.
  • When the gang come to meet Ted on Staten Island, Ted says, "I'll get it" and runs to the door; Ted's cousin Stacy then asks, "Who is it?" and Ted says that it's carolers; Then Barney, Marshall, and Robin sing "Silent Night" while Lily and Ted make amends. This scene references the film Love Actually where the character Mark (Andrew Lincoln) comes to the character Juliet's (Keira Knightley) door to say he loves her using cue cards, following the aforementioned pattern.
  • Ted on the answering machine calling Lily a "grinch", and Future Ted saying that Ted didn't say "Grinch", but a "very, very bad word" instead is a reference to A Christmas Story. This is then acknowledged when Ted responds to Lily hearing that with "Oh, fudge," and Future Ted remarks "But I didn't say 'fudge'..."^note which was taken directly from the film
• Spit Take: Ted's cousin Stacy does this when her son mentions "Grinch".