The episode opens on a snowy day, and the narrator explains that it's nearly Christmas. The King, Queen, and Maid are bringing in their shopping, while the Prime Minister and Chef are decorating and the General is trying to get a mistletoe kiss from the Maid.
The Princess and Puss are on the bottom of the stairwell next to a timer, and the narrator asks the Princess why she isn't helping with the decorating. She replies that she needs to sit there and when he asks if she's having fun, she explains that it's a naughty step.
The narrator asks what the Princess did that was naughty, and she explains that it started unintentionally— she made some snowflake decorations out of torn-up paper but the Maid didn't like them. Then, she started to play with her food at lunch, which the Chef disapproved of, then she bumped into the Maid while playing a (probably prohibited) game in the hallway riding in the pets' basket with Scruff as Rudolph. The Princess explains that while she has admittedly been a bit naughty, she's trying her best to be good, partly because of Santa and partly because the Queen had told her that if she wasn't good, she wouldn't be allowed to help decorate the tree.
The punishment ends, and the Queen invites the Princess to go for a walk in the snow. The other adults hand the Princess her winter clothes, and she thanks them as well as she can. On the walk, she tells herself, "Be good" over and over. The two build a snowman and throw snowballs at it, then the Princess is tempted to throw another snowball at the Queen's butt, but she doesn't.
The tree arrives and luckily, the Princess has been good enough to help decorate it. She puts on bells and baubles, while the Admiral puts on a garland with fake fish, and the King puts the lights on. Finally, the King and Princess put a fairy doll at the top of the tree. The Princess is then sent to bed, but she doesn't want to leave the tree.
Later that night, the Princess can't sleep and claims it's because she "didn't say goodnight" to the tree. She goes out of bed and has a look at it but unfortunately hugs it and knocks it over, spilling the decorations and breaking the fairy doll. The next morning is Christmas, but the Princess is on the naughty step again for disobeying the Queen. She doesn't mind though, as it's next to the tree.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: When the Princess is being Santa, Scruff wears fake antlers and a Rudolph nose.
- Being Good Sucks: When the Princess makes herself not throw a snowball at the Queen's derriere, she says to herself, "Being good is no fun!".
- Christmas Episode: The episode takes place on and around Christmas.
- Crush Blush: Zigzagged. The General and the Maid kiss under the mistletoe and both blush, even though the General's crush on the Maid is unrequited.
- Denied Food as Punishment: When the Princess plays with her food, the Chef makes her go out of the kitchen before she's finished her lunch.
- Diurnal Nocturnal Animal: During the nighttime scene, an owl is seen asleep.
- Dreaming of a White Christmas: This episode takes place around Christmas, and there's a layer of snow that's deep enough to play in but not enough to snow someone in.
- Happy Dance: The Princess leaps around gleefully when the tree arrives and again when she's allowed to help decorate it.
- Irony: The Princess has to be good for Christmas, yet all the things she gets put on the naughty step for have to do with Christmas in some way. First there were the snowflake decorations, then she played with her food by making a "snowman" out of mashed potato, then she pretended to be Santa with Scruff as Rudolph but rode on her makeshift sleigh indoors.
- Literal Ass-Kicking: Defied. The Princess wants to snowball the Queen in the rear, but decides not to, since she needs to be good.
- Oh, Crap!:
- When the Princess is hugging the tree, she says, "It's wiggly!" and makes a worried face, then starts to make apprehensive sounds, ending with a loud scream, before it falls over.
- Then, when the grownups show up, she says, "Uh-oh", realising that she'll be punished for getting up to look at the tree.
- Platonic Kissing: Downplayed with the General and Maid at the end. The General has an unrequited crush on the Maid, who sees him as her best friend.
- Shout-Out: When the Princess is grumpy over not getting to see the Christmas tree one last time before bed, she says sulkily, "Humbug!", which is Scrooge's catchphrase in A Christmas Carol.
- Under the Mistletoe: The General holds up some mistletoe in hopes to get a kiss from the Maid. She just says, "Silly General" instead. Eventually, however, they do kiss.
- Unishment: The Princess is sent to the naughty step for disobeying the Queen, but doesn't mind as the step is next to the Christmas tree.
