Rose is abducted by a mother who loses her child right before Christmas, and the Wilders go to great lengths to find her, assisted by Mr. Edwards and a hopeful orphan boy looking for a family to adopt him. Meanwhile, Sherwood Montague has a major case of the holiday humbugs, and Nancy is too spoiled to go out and chop down a proper Christmas tree when Nels thinks it will help her learn to properly appreciate the season.
Tropes present in this episode:
- Baby Be Mine: Although Rose is 2 by the events of this episode, she is still a ripe target for a grief-wrought mother who lost her own baby in childbirth due to a rare illness. The woman lures Rose away with a doll and leaves back home, telling her husband that she found the baby abandoned.
- Christmas Episode: Aired in December 1984, more than a year after the last original episode and eight months after "The Last Farewell," Walnut Grove once again celebrates the season.
- Didn't Think This Through: Nels tries to teach Nancy a lesson on contributing for Christmas by giving her the task to chop down a Christmas tree in the woods and bring it home. It didn't occur to him that this being Nancy, she'd try to transfer the task to somebody else (which she does) and failing at that, do some Zany Scheme to spare herself from sweating:
- Nancy decides to save the effort to drag a (small) pine tree all the way from the woods by chopping down a ridiculously tall pine tree beside their house. It falls through the window and poor Nels barely escapes from being crushed to death.
- Foregone Conclusion: The special has a painfully obvious setup that the orphan boy will be adopted by the family who lost their baby.
- The Grinch: Downplayed with Mr. Montague. He doesn't dislike Christmas per se, but rather the traditions of giving presents, which he sees as materialistic and shallow, and Christmas trees, which he sees as sacrificing pine trees for no practical reason. The latter is implied to be because his mother never allowed Christmas trees at home.
- Idiot Ball: Almanzo leaves Rose, whom Laura asked him to watch while she was inside a store, alone while he checks a few apples. A two-year-old who could have walked away by herself at any minute even if he hadn't been distracted by helping Mr. Edwards out of a Bar Fight.
- Karmic Jackpot: Jason tries in vain to sell a pine tree branch he got as a Christmas tree so he can buy his mother a new scarf, and then decides to present it to Mr. Montague, as an effort to get him to understand the meaning behind Christmas traditions. Montague is so moved by his gesture that he shows up at the Carters' home dressed as Santa Claus with presents, including the scarf Jason wanted for his mother, saving their Christmas and Jason's faith in Santa Claus (his parents hadn't been able to buy Christmas and were about to reveal to him that there was no Santa Claus before "Santa" himself arrived with gifts).
- Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Almanzo punches a big guy involved in a Bar Fight started by Mr. Edwards, to no reaction. His involvement with said fight keeps him busy long enough for Elsa Norris to snatch baby Rose.
- Rule of Three: Nancy accuses Nels of hating her three times during the special just because he calls her out on her misbehavior and selfishness. The third time is after she dropped a pine tree through the window and almost crushed him to death, to which he finally snaps:
Nancy: You really do hate me, don't you?
Nels (already fed up with Nancy's bullshit): YEEEEEEEES!
