Christmas on Disc: Yankee Swap!

Tonight I watched the first Christmas episode of the Office and was reminded how much I love this show. For a long time it was my favorite episode (replaced by The Dinner Party) and it wasn't long before I realized why. It has everything one could want in an episode.

• Toby getting verbally abused.
• Jim getting mushy over Pam.
• Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration.
• Meredith's drinking problem.
• A glimpse into Creed's personality.
• Michael acting like a jerk and then making up for it.
• Ryan deals with Michael's man crush.

If you haven't seen it, I'll give you the short version. Michael ruins the Secret Santa by buying Ryan a video iPod, going well past the $20 limit. When Michael gets a home knitted oven mitt, he changes it to Yankee Swap, Dirty Santa, White Elephant or whatever your family calls it. Jim's sweet gift for Pam gets stolen and Michael's thrilled to see everyone wants his gift ("It's like a Christmas miracle!"). After everyone is upset by either what they received or who ended with what they bought, the boss goes out and gets 15 bottles of vodka to get his staff of 20 plastered. In an odd Christmas twist, booze makes everything better and they have the Christmas party Michael always wanted.

This ep still makes me laugh. Lots of great lines for holiday and everyday use ("Bunch of wet blankets. Like alcohol ever killed anyone.") plus a few story arcs got advanced. Am I the only one wondering if the Dwight/Kelly thing will ever come up again? It's the perfect episode for anyone who's seen the show and it really is appropriate for the season since the entire show takes place on the day of their Christmas party. If you haven't seen this one, check it out (I'm pretty sure it's on Hulu and other places. If you've already seen it, take a nice snowy night to get reacquainted, it's aged quite well.