"Choose!"
Pepper Ann is part of an interfaith family, and as such has always celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah. When she thinks that she has to choose between them, she can't decide which is better and starts making lists of the best things about each holiday.Tropes:
- Bad Job, Worse Uniform: Milo’s trip to Hawaii gets canceled and instead he has to deliver muffin baskets for his mom while dressed as a Christmas Elf.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Nicky forgoes the materialism of Christmas and chooses to give everything to charity instead, encouraging everyone to do the same. This quickly makes her miserable however, which is then compounded by her not receiving any actual Christmas gifts - just donations made in her name to various charities.
- Brick Joke: In one of Pepper Ann’s Imagine Spots earlier in the episode, a Christmas tree tells a menorah that he’s going golfing with the Easter Bunny later and invites him to join them. At the end of the episode when Pepper Ann, Nicky, & Milo’s families are in Hawaii, the Christmas tree, menorah, and Easter Bunny are all seen carrying golf clubs as they walk down the beach.
- Child of Two Worlds: Pepper Ann struggles with her identity as a child of an interfaith family after she feels like she has to choose between Christmas and Hanukkah.
- Christmas Episode: Combined with a Hanukkah Episode.
- Clothes for Christmas Cringe: Pepper Ann is noticeably disappointed when she gets socks from her grandparents for Hanukkah.
- Continuity Nod: The same “Whatchama Chocolates” that get Nicky to go trick-or-treating despite her disdain for the holiday in “A Tween Halloween” is what Pepper Ann’s mom donates to her soup kitchen collection.
- Costume-Test Montage: One of Pepper Ann trying on a bunch of ugly dresses at a store with her mom to find something to wear to her dad’s Christmas dinner.
- *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": Chuck says this while he’s cutting down the family Christmas tree.
- Dramatic Wind: While conflicted about the upcoming decision she’ll have to make between Christmas and Hanukkah, a cold winter wind blows past Pepper Ann that sounds like it’s saying “Choose!”.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Nicky gives up her entire holiday to donate her time and possessions to charity, only for Milo to be the one highlighted by a news channel for simply bringing muffins to the soup kitchen. Granted, Nicky’s actions seemed to come from a desire to show everyone how good and selfless she is; whereas Milo sat down and connected with the people he was helping, treating them like actual human beings.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: It turns out that it wasn’t Pepper Ann’s mistake during her play that made her grandma hyperventilate, it was actually because she thought she saw a mouse.
- Genius Book Club: Nicky freaks out when her mom gives away her Jane Austen and Emily Bronte books.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: While neither is actually good or bad, Pepper Ann imagines Animate Inanimate Objects of a menorah and a Christmas tree that each try to get her to choose their respective holiday.
- Hanukkah Episode: Combined with a Christmas Episode.
- Hyperventilation Bag: After Pepper Ann accidentally sings “The Twelve Days of Christmas” while dressed as a menorah, her Grandma Lillian is shown hyperventilating into a paper bag.
- Pepper Ann also starts hyperventilating at the end of the episode when she finds out that all her stress about choosing between her family’s holidays was for nothing.
Lydia: Chuck, get the bag! I think she’s hyperventilating! - Idiosyncratic Wipes: This episode has one of Santa’s sleigh being pulled by reindeer.
- Jaw Drop: Pepper Ann’s reaction to finding out that her mistake in the school play made her grandma hyperventilate.
- Nap Inducing Speech: Mr. Finky falls asleep when Cissy is giving a rambling report in class.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Pepper Ann hears her dad say “I told you Lydia, you should’ve made her choose a long time ago”, to which her mom responds “You’re right. Come Christmas day, she’s just gonna have to give us an answer. It’s gotta be one or the other.” She of course thinks this is in reference to her having to choose between Christmas and Hanukkah, but it actually ended up being about her Grandma Lillian needing to choose a doctor.
- School Play: It’s Miss Stark’s “Celebrating Diversity Holiday Medley” play that gets Pepper Ann questioning whether or not she should be trying to celebrate two holidays at once.
- True Meaning of Christmas: Pepper Ann learns that both Christmas and Hanukkah are equally important to her because she spends both of them with her family.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The events of the episode take place in a flashback during Pepper Ann’s holiday report presentation at school.
