25 best Christmas TV episodes to watch this holiday season

The Simpsons -“Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” “Miracle on Evergreen Terrace”

The Simpsons has been on the air since 1989,  so obviously that translates into a lot of Christmas episodes. Some episodes are better than others, but there are still so many iconic ones that choosing just one was near impossible, so for that reason, we’re featuring two!

Funny enough, the first ever Simpsons Christmas episode was actually the first episode ever! It was intended to be the eighth episode of that season, but due to some fears about from execs about the first episode they produced, they swapped in this one to air on Dec. 17, 1989. We’re introduced to the Simpson family, your average American family who are just trying to make ends meet to give their kids a good Christmas.

Homer is more worried about Christmas than usual because Mr. Burns cut everyone’s Christmas bonuses, and Marge  has already spent the family’s savings to erase a tattoo that Bart got as a gift to her. Homer decides to become a mall Santa in order to make extra cash for the holiday season. He’s too embarrassed to tell anyone about his new job, especially with Marge’s judgmental sister Patty and Selma visiting. To make everything even worse, Homer’s net pay ends up being only $13, after covering his Santa costume, his training, and a list of other things. He uses the money to place a bet on a dog at the racetrack, and loses it all on a dog named Santa’s Little Helper.

Homer is discouraged, but when Santa’s Little Helper’s owner throws him to the street for losing, Bart begs to bring him home, and the family is thrilled at their Christmas surprise. Sometimes all it takes is a dog to make Christmas perfect!

“Miracle on Evergreen Terrace” is another iconic Simpsons Christmas episode. On this one, Marge wants to make sure they all celebrate Christmas together and confiscates everyone’s alarm clock so that nobody can start opening their presents until 7 AM. Bart, ever the mastermind, decides to drink 12 glasses of water so that he’ll be woken up early by his bladder. Sure enough, it works and at 5 AM he wakes up, bladder full and eyes wide.

Bart rushes to the tree to start opening his presents, one of which is a remote-controlled fire truck that he immediately plays with. Things go awry when the toy accidentally starts a fire in the living room and the tree goes up in flames, melting the plastic and ruining everything underneath it. Bart tries to hide the accident but when his family catches him, he claims he chased out a burglar.

The entire city comes together to raise money to give the Simpson family a great Christmas, but Bart’s guilty conscience and the discovery of the melted tree outside in the snow leads to the entire town turning on the Simpsons for tricking them out of their money (which they already spent). In the end, everyone forgives them… after looting their house of anything with value to make up for their losses.

This holiday season, a marathon of some of the early Simpsons Christmas episodes is a must, because there are plenty more where these two came from!