Dear Reader:

Stop watching Home Alone for the eightieth time. Instead, tune into one of these wonderfully festive Christmas-themed TV episodes (ranked from least to most jolly) . . .

5. The Bear S2E6 “Fishes”

While one may think of warmth and familial joy when they think of Christmas, this episode is anything but. The Bear, an FX produced cooking drama streamed on Hulu, isn’t a stranger to stressing out viewers, but this Christmas episode takes it to the next level. The episode is a flashback of our main character Carmy’s holiday when his late older brother was still alive. The story follows a slow descent to chaos during Carmy’s dysfunctional family gathering ending in a less than ideal situation involving a car and garage. So if you’re up for an intense Christmas ride, dive into this Seven Fishes dinner (that doesn’t go very swimmingly).

4. Glee S2E10 “A Very Glee Christmas”

Since the word “glee” is used in so many Christmas songs, why not watch Glee itself? Glee’s antics and ridiculous plot arcs are back again but with a holly jolly twist! With our characters trying to keep up the ruse that Santa exists to Britney, a cheerleader and glee club member, along with the amazing Christmas covers such as “We Need a Little Christmas” and “Last Christmas,” what’s not to love? So to spread some holiday glee, watch Glee’s Christmas episode, “A Very Glee Christmas.”

3. iCarly S2E7 “iChristmas”

With the emphasis on childhood during the holiday season, let’s revisit a show from the past. iCarly’s Christmas episode is a retelling of the classic Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life. But instead of our main character, Carly, wishing she never lived, she wishes for her eccentric artist brother, Spencer, to have been born “normal”. As a result, we not only get the nostalgia of the It’s a Wonderful Life storyline, but we also learn the lesson to accept people for their true selves.

2. Dash and Lily (the entire show)

Even though I said that only Christmas episodes were on this list, this eight episode Christmas series is too festive not to include. The Netflix Original Dash and Lily (based on the book Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn) follows the story of the Christmas loving Lily and the Christmas hating Dash. As they pass back and forth messages in a notebook throughout NYC, maybe they’ll both grow as people or even grow closer to each other.

1. Community S2E11 “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”

Finally, we’ve reached my personal favorite among Christmas TV episodes. The TV show Community isn’t a stranger to switching up its storytelling medium (video game animation, muppets, etc.) but this episode’s use of nostalgic stop-motion is what really takes the cake. The episode follows the Spanish study group of Greendale Community College on the last day of classes before holiday break. The episode begins in stop motion, but this new change isn’t visible to anyone else except the character Abed. Abed is sent to the guidance office for psychiatric support to escape this stop motion universe, yet Abed thinks this new change is a positive. To “escape the stop-motion,” the study crew goes on a festively fun imaginative Christmas journey to “find the meaning of Christmas.” By finding the meaning, Abed believes that the world will go back to normal. As the episode progresses, we learn that the reason Abed is stuck in a stop-motion world is because his divorced mother didn’t come home for Christmas. With the study group’s help, Abed finds comfort in his friends and faces his Christmas predicament.