Big Brother Bully: Almanzo's brother Royal is shown to have been this one Christmas Eve during his flashback, telling him there was no Santa Claus. This attitude cost him his Christmas presents that year.
Clip Show: The Christmas story from the original pilot movie is shown as Laura recalls the family's Christmas (with Mr. Edwards) while living on the little house in Kansas; it is the only non-original material shown of the four "flashback" segments.
Christmas Episode: During a fierce blizzard, the family recalls past favorite Christmases.
Endless Winter: The severe blizzard, which piles snow drifts up to the Ingalls' cabin's second floor(!), is an allusion to the real-life severe winter of 1880-1881 that struck the upper Midwestern United States. The winter is chronicled in Laura Ingalls Wilder's novel "The Long Winter."
Nice to the Waiter: In Hester Sue's flashback, her father's boss/master seemed to be nice enough to him, even giving him an angel doll so he could present his daughter. Her father decides to dress as Santa Claus to prove his daughter even Black kids could get presents form old St. Nick.
Nobody Poops: The Ingalls, Wlder and Kendall families are all stuck inside the little house for a whole night, with the outhouse unavailable duo to the blizzard. And yet the issue of how they'll attend their bodily functions with no space for privacy is never approached.
Put on a Bus: After making their last regular appearances in part 1 of the season opener, Adam and Mary depart for good following this episode.
Shout-Out: To the novel "The Long Winter," particularly with the large snow drifts burying part of the house.
Snowed-In: Literally – the snow is so deep it nearly is to the top of the front door; Charles and Almanzo have to climb out the second-story window to get to the barn.
You Are Not My Father: Caroline, of all people, initially had this attitude towards her stepfather Frederick. It didn't help that she was still mourning her deceased father when her mother remarried and she saw it as an act of betrayal to his memory. Her flashback to her first Christmas with Frederick shows how she finally warmed up to him after he told her how he was her father's friend and he too mourned her father, and then gave her a necklace made from a gift her father had given him a year earlier. Caroline wears that necklace every Christmas Eve as a reminder of Frederick, and the night she finally accepted him.
