"Have Yourself A Very Little Christmas" is an episode in the fifth season of The Golden Girls.
The girls volunteer at a homeless shelter on Christmas day and learn that Stan has been thrown out on the streets by his current wife.
Tropes:
- Christmas Episode: One in which the girls spend part of the holiday itself at a homeless shelter.
- Everyone Hates Fruit Cakes: Early on during the episode, Sophia suggests gathering the fruit cakes they've accrued for the past three years. She's planning on donating them to the soup kitchen where they volunteer to help serve those who need food, though Dorothy's reaction before Sophia finishes her suggestion is "And what, build a bomb shelter?"
- Unfortunately for Sophia, even the homeless people turn out to like fruit cakes no more than the girls do, as there are more fruit cakes at the end of the soup kitchen dinner than before the dinner began, much to Sophia's disbelief.
- Holiday Volunteering: Stan (once again) attempts to get the girls to invest in his business (novelty toys). They're not interested and instead head off to the soup kitchen to volunteer, where they find Stan in the line
- Hypocritical Humor: Dorothy names a list of aggressive acts people would do to their fellow shoppers "just for a Batman hat ... but I did it anyway. I got the hat."
- My New Gift Is Lame: Zigzagged.
- The girls (sans Rose) decide that each of them should only get one present for one of the other girls to cut down on the hassle of holiday shopping. The only catch? The girl who's picked to receive Rose's present has to pretend to like whatever she gives her recipient. The girls draws lots to determine who would buy a present for whom, and Blanche ends up as Rose's recipient — Rose claiming that "someone else in this house will learn how to yodel after this year is over" does nothing to ease Blanche's mood about Rose's present. Come Christmas Day, Rose hands her present of choice to Blanche, and it's... a blouse Blanche actually likes. It helps that Dorothy had suggested beforehand to Rose that Blanche preferred something "crotch-less" as a shopping tip.
- Sophia, in the meanwhile, is wholeheartedly disappointed with the present she receives from Phil — so much so, she gives it to Rose simply because Rose appreciates it more than Sophia does.Sophia: Your brother Phil, God rest his brain, gives the worst presents in the world. Who gives their mothers dental floss?
Rose: Well, it's waxed and mint-flavored.
Sophia: *tosses dental floss to Rose* Here. Go floss yourself.
