26 of TV's best Christmas episodes

Happy December, when the weather outside is frightful, but TV is so delightful! In celebration of this festive season, we've rounded up our favorite TV Christmas episodes, from the holly-jolly to the downright heartbreaking. Check out our yuletide picks ahead!

This story was originally published Dec. 9, 2018, and most recently updated Dec. 15, 2021.

Friends had more than just Thanksgiving! If you can make it through the Hanukkah lesson from the Holiday Armadillo (a.k.a. David Schwimmer's Ross) all the way to the arrival of Superman (Matt LeBlanc's Joey) without once dissolving into a pile of Christmas giggles, you're stronger than we are.

It was fun when Roger (John Slattery) wore a Santa suit, but Mad Men's best yuletide hour had to be this bittersweet season 5 entry. Nobody wears heartache quite so gorgeously as Don (Jon Hamm) and Joan (Christina Hendricks) at a bar — or in a Jaguar — at Christmas.

The Office's Dunder Mifflin had its fair share of memorable Christmases, but between an inappropriate iPod gift and some classic Jim-Pam romantic tension, nothing tops season 2's Secret Santa gone awry.

Ted Lasso boldly dropped its season 2 Christmas episode in the middle of the summer, but the polarizing installment is packed with enough wholesome holiday sweetness (including a handful of Love Actually references) to convince anyone it's cold outside.

Second only to "eating a sandwich" among narrator Ted's (Josh Radnor) various sanitized revisions of his younger days is his tale of the time he called Alyson Hannigan's Lily a "grinch" (decide for yourself what word he really used) at Christmastime.

Snowy Connecticut! A hyper-specific Stars Hollow event hosted by Lauren Graham's Lorelai! Richard and Emily (Edward Herrmann and Kelly Bishop) drama! Sneaky, snarky, flirty Jess (Milo Ventimiglia)! What more could you possibly want from a Gilmore Girls Christmas?

The classic novella has gotten plenty of small-screen adaptations, but none more singular that Doctor Who's version — which was somehow very clearly Dickensian but also distinctly, unquestionably, entirely Doctor Who.

Well, you can take your snow and shove it. We couldn't possibly leave Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's season 1 holiday ep off the list if only 'cause this is California, and we do Christmas right!

You can keep your Aaron Carter music videos — the most Xtreme holiday on Lizzie McGuire had to be season 2's Steven Tyler-assisted Xtravaganza.

After dealing with a tricky pair of old married ghosts, Mulder and Scully's (David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) Christmas gift exchange makes for one of The X-Files duo's all-time greatest moments.

New Girl's first Christmas episode brought hilarity (oh, Schmidt) and heart (Candy Cane Lane!) in equal measure, making for a high point of the sitcom's freshman season.

Always Sunny's two-parter at the end of season 6 had to be twice as long to fit so much Christmas spirit into it.

Dorinda decorated. She cooked. She made it nice.  

Can you imagine a better Ghost of Christmas Anything than Boy Meets World's Mr. Feeny (William Daniels)?

It's Black Mirror does Christmas! And it's exactly what that sounds like!

Forget just being one of the best Christmas episodes — Lost's indelible time-travel masterpiece ranks among the greatest TV episodes ever, period.

We all grew up watching Christmas stories in stop-motion on TV, so it only feels right that Community went the Sant Claus Is Coming to Town route for its season 2 holiday episode.

We apologize for referring to "The Strike" as Seinfeld's Christmas episode. Happy Festivus, everyone.

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" has in recent years been reappraised as a particularly problematic holiday song. Forget that for a minute and just listen to Chris Colfer and Darren Criss as Kurt and Blaine singing it on Glee. You're welcome.

The spirit and the glamour of Christmas are on full display in this Will & Grace episode, wherein Grace (Debra Messing) selflessly plays Santa Claus for Jack (Sean Hayes) by designing a gorgeous holiday window display at Barneys.

Who knew Danny Castellano (Chris Messina) and Aaliyah were such a perfect match?

Buffy's only Christmas episode is a low point for a memory-haunted Angel (David Boreanaz), who plans to kill himself by standing outside as the sun rises, that turns into one of the most touching scenes of his and Buffy's romance: When the sun is blocked by snowfall, he and Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) take a daytime walk through Sunnydale together for the very first time.

Downton's second season ended with a perfectly elegant Christmas special — which itself ended with a perfectly romantic marriage proposal in the snow.

Season 1's episode surrounding Seth Cohen's (Adam Brody) favorite holiday really was "The Best Chrismukkah Ever"!

Black-ish took on the "Black people can't be racist" argument in its freshman season's Christmas episode, in which Dre (Anthony Anderson) insists that his office Christmas party needs a Black Santa (specifically him).

What better subject for a Christmas TV show than the making of a Christmas TV show? And what better way to spend Christmas than with family? And what better family than Jack's mom (Elaine Stritch)?!