The Holy Trinity Of Christmas Episodes In The History Of Television

Merry Christmas, my fellow OutKick fans!

I hope all of you are enjoying the festivities as much as I am right now.

Christmas is my favorite holiday, and it's not particularly close, and if you know anything about me, you know that I love traditions.

We all have our tried-and-true holiday traditions, and one of my go-tos is revisiting some all-time classic "Christmas episodes" of some of my favorite TV shows.

Below are three Christmas themed episodes of three of my favorite television shows to ever grace our airwaves.

You may not agree with this list (there will be no F-R-I-E-N-D-S on here), so if that's the case, feel free to reach out to me and voice your grievances.

Speaking of grievances.

"The Strike" — Seinfeld (Season 9, Episode 10)

We start this list off with an episode so iconic, it literally spawned a new holiday in the process.

Imagine if we were still walking around saying "Merry Christmas Eve Eve" like a bunch of drooling idiot F-R-I-E-N-D-S fans (can you tell I REALLY don't like that show)?

Seinfeld was so ubiquitous in the 90s that it infiltrated so many different facets of our culture. From the lexicon ("yadda yadda") to the new societal norms (no re-gifting or double-dipping), the show was prevalent in all our lives. But the final season of the iconic sitcom gifted us one of the best Christmas episodes in television history.

In typical Seinfeld fashion, "The Strike" gave us a modern twist on the "holiday special" that left a lasting impression on every American in the 90s who was stressed out from holiday shopping.

Neurotic sidekick, George Costanza, and his father, the explosive Frank, invented a new way to deal with the rigors of Christmas: Festivus.

Frank's explanation of how he came up with the idea for Festivus is hilarious, and with the other two entries on the list being a more traditional take on Christmas TV, "The Strike" is a breath of fresh air, offering up the laughs in heaping quantities.

"To Save Us All From Satan's Power" – The Sopranos (Season 3, Episode 10)

Being one of the greatest television shows ever created, you knew The Sopranos would knock their Christmas episode out of the park.

"To Save Us All From Satan's Power" does something that I love from any TV show and especially from The Sopranos in particular: flashback episodes.

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

After Tony and company kill their friend and fellow crewmate, Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, for being an informant for the FBI in season two, Tony is left with more questions than answers.

Pussy's presence lingers throughout season three, showing up as a ghost in a "blink, and you'll miss it" moment in the second episode of the season, but he isn't widely discussed until this episode.

Using Christmas as a backdrop, Tony flashes back to the holiday season of 1995, remembering some erratic behavior from his fallen comrade at the mob-sponsored Christmas party, where Pussy dresses up as Santa Claus.

Tony recalls Pussy being particularly sullen and asking weird questions about mob business, indicating he may have been wearing a wire and, thus, under the FBI's thumb all the way back in 95 (three years before they originally thought).

The whole episode flips back and forth between Christmas of 95 and 2000, as Tony, Silvio, and Paulie try to piece the past together and make sense of their best friend's betrayal.

It's expertly done – as are most things by David Chase – and the Christmas themes and imagery make for a perfect and cozy episode of The Sopranos to pop on every December.

"Chuck Versus Santa Claus" – Chuck (Season 2, Episode 11)

I need to disclose something before we go any further: Chuck is my favorite television series of all-time, even edging The Sopranos, so I am a little biased when I put this on the list, but I think even on its own merits, "Chuck Versus Santa Claus" is a classic Christmas TV episode.

The titular Chuck Bartowski is a nerd working at Buy More (an in-universe stand-in for Best Buy) when he downloads a government supercomputer into his brain, causing the NSA and CIA to launch a joint operation to try and protect him from any threats, both foreign and domestic.

His handlers are the NSA's John Casey and the CIA's Sarah Walker, the latter of whom he falls in love with, creating a fantastic "will-they-won't-they" tension from the first couple seasons.

In this season two episode, Chuck is working at the Buy More on Christmas Eve when a seemingly inept petty burglar accidentally crashes into the store and creates an inadvertent hostage situation, with many of the main characters being stuck there after trying to finish their holiday shopping.

As it turns out, the burglar is an enemy agent posing as a buffoon and working in cahoots with the hostage negotiator (also an under-cover enemy agent) to try and flush Chuck out to kidnap him and extract the computer from his brain.

Walker and Casey are tasked with protecting Chuck and the Buy More while not blowing their cover or Chuck's identity as a government asset to his friends and family.

The whole episode has great Christmas moments, including the scene above where the hostages get to call their loved ones and wish them a Merry Christmas.

The show is a perfect blend of nerd humor and heartfelt moments mixed with spy action, and "Chuck Versus Santa Claus" is a great representation and microcosm of the show as a whole.

I implore you all to check this show out and when Christmas rolls around, bust this episode out and get all the Christmas cozies.

Merry Christmas, boys and girls!