It's Christmas, and two children sneak out of bed to see Santa...
Based on the short story of the same name by Joachim Heijndermans.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: “Santa” does this with Billy. Hardly comforting under the circumstances.
- Ambiguous Situation: What would have happened if the children had been naughty? Would the Santa creature have eaten them? Would it have simply puked up coal?
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Santa drinks through a straw-like tongue, can smell the abstract concepts of goodness and naughtiness, and can regurgitate the perfect gift for good children.
- Christmas Episode: Two kids, Billy and Leah, wake up on Christmas Eve hoping to meet Santa Claus. What they encounter is not the Santa they've been told about, but instead a bizarre alien monster.
- Creepy Good: This is a very big maybe. We don't know what would have happened to the kids if the Santa monster had deemed them naughty, but besides that, it is surprisingly friendly toward the duo and gives them the gifts they want.
- Homage Shot: Santa's Up Close with the Monster shot with Leah recalls a similar scene in Alien³, with the alien and Leah being positioned similarly to the Xenomorph and Ripley.
- Implied Death Threat: Ambiguously. "Stay good".Leah: What would have happened if we weren't good...?
- Leaving Food for Santa: This was clearly done, as one of the first signs shown of the "Santa's" form is drinking the milk left in the living room with its straw-like tongue.
- The Nose Knows: Santa can smell if a child has been good or bad.
- Nothing Is Scarier: There's no clue what would've happened to the children if they'd been deemed naughty...just a lingering question hanging over their heads when they go to bed.
- Reused Character Design: The Santa creature looks oddly similar to the Ghouls from the Secret War episode.
- Santabomination: The grotesque creature playing Santa is a horrific living red sack with hands for a mouth that can smell a child's goodness and regurgitate the perfect gift.
- Stop Motion Animation: How the short is animated, with some CGI assistance.
- Up Close with the Monster: Santa goes face to face with the children to smell if they've been good or bad.
