All Holiday Episodes of Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls, and Friends
Fa-la-la-la-la!..
Too early?
Sorry.
But while we’re waiting for the Christmas season, why not re-watch holiday episodes of our favorite TV shows? Some time ago I saw Netflix posting a guide to Friends Christmas episodes, and thought it was a really cool idea. I also love all Thanksgiving episodes of Gossip Girl. And who could resist snowy Christmas episodes of Gilmore Girls?
Pour yourself a glass of red, light some candles, cozy up with a blanket, and welcome that holiday spirit!
Gossip Girl
Thanksgiving
Being Blair’s favorite holiday, Thanksgiving is way more significant in Gossip Girl, than Christmas. Therefore, almost every season of the show has its dedicated Thanksgiving episode (except season 5 when everyone was pre-occupied with Princess-(Not)To-Be Blair). And every time all the hell of family drama breaks loose more than ever.
Season 1, Episode 9. Blair Waldorf Must Pie.
This episode consists of flashbacks to the last year’s bulimic Blair and drunk Serena. In the present time, Lilly is raining on Humpfrey’s family reunion. The Archibalds are falling apart because Capitan is involved in a financial scandal.
Season 2, Episode 11.The Magnificent Archiblads.
Jenny is trying to divorce her parents. Serena is dating an artist. Nate’s dad returns from his hide-out and gets arrested. And only Blair is happy (sort of) with her daddy spending Thanksgiving in New York.
Season 3, Episode 11. The Treasure of Serena Madre.
CeCe is planning a surprise appearance at Lily’s Thanksgiving dinner. Dan’s juggling girlfriends (not really). Serena is dating a congressman. Dorota is pregnant, and Blair’s mom is moving to Paris.
Season 4, Episode 10. Gaslit.
Serena wakes up in a motel room, overdosed and not knowing, where she is. Everyone is convinced she needs help and sends her to the Ostroff Center. And Dan breaks her free. Blair and Chuck decide to take some time apart and concentrate on their careers. Nate’s dad is in jail.
Season 6, Episode 8. It’s Really Complicated.
Serena and Dan are hosting Thanksgiving dinner together. Blair and Sage are trying to ruin it by bringing Serena’s ex. Chuck is trying to bring Bart down by uncovering his criminal affairs. Dan is publishing his book chapter-by-chapter, dropping the “Serena” bomb right in the middle of the holiday dinner.
Christmas
Unfortunately, there’s not much Christmas happening on Gossip Girl set. Maybe because the show is too bitter for the Christmas magic. But these two episodes are all we’ve got.
Season 1, Episode 11. Roman Holiday.
Blair hires her dad’s boyfriend’s ex, who is a model, to break her dad and his boyfriend up, so that her dad stays with her mom. Spoiler: it doesn’t work. Dan and Serena don’t know what to get each other for Christmas.
Season 2, Episode 12. It’s A Wonderful Lie.
Jenny is scheming with the mean girls against Vanessa. Serena’s boyfriend’s ex makes an appearance. Jenny and Vanessa are resenting each other because of Nate. Nate can’t figure out who he likes more.
Gilmore Girls
Given how complicated the relationships between the girls and Lorelay’s parents are, it should come as no surprise that the show has only two Thanksgiving episodes. I wouldn’t want to sit through seven family dinners with Emily and Richard, would you?
Season 3, Episode 9. A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving. Lorelay and Rory are attempting to go to four Thanksgiving dinners, at the Gilmores’, at Luke’s, at Lane’s, and Sookie’s.
Season 6, Episode 10. He’s Slipping ’em Bread… Dig. This is only technically a Thanksgiving episode because it ends with a celebratory dinner. But before that, we learn that Christopher wants to pay for Yale now, Lane and her band have a show-case, and Luke has a secret baby.
Christmas
Season 1, Episode 10. Forgiveness and Stuff.
The very first Christmas episode is full of family drama. Rory and Dean fell asleep after Miss Patty’s show (nothing happened!). Lorelai is mad at Dean, and her mother dis-invites her from the Gilmores’ annual holiday party. Richard has a heart attack.
Season 2, Episode 10. The Bracebridge Dinner.
This episode is somewhat untraditional in terms of family holidays and the Gilmores — it lacks drama. Everyone has a fun time drinking and having dinner at the Independence Inn. Rory starts developing feelings for Jess (what?!), and Richard and Emily are fighting over Richard’s retirement.
Season 3, Episode 10. That’ll Do, Pig.
Lorelai’s grandmother (whose name is also Lorelai, by the way) comes to visit unexpectedly. Emily goes nuts because of it. Rory goes to the annual Stars Hollow winter festival with both Dean, her ex, and Jess, her current boyfriend. Quite scandalous.
Season 4, Episode 11. In the Clamor and Clangor.
Lorelai is mad at Luke for moving and not telling her. Lane tells her mother about her hobby and the boyfriend and gets thrown out of the house.
Season 5, Episode 11. Women of Questionable Morals.
Lorelai gets mad at snow for causing lots of inconveniences, including cutting her access to coffee (oh, the terror!). Emily and Richard are separated. Luke builds an ice rink to make Lorelai feel better about the snow.
Season 6, Episode 12. Just Like Gwen and Gavin.
Lorelai learns about Luke’s secret daughter but not from Luke. Rory is mad at Logan. Zack is mad at Lane because he’s jealous of Lane’s friend Joe, who’s actually her uncle. Is this still “Gilmore Girls” and not some Brazilian soap opera? I guess we’ll have to watch it find out.
Season 7, Episode 11. Santa’s Secret Stuff.
This episode actually takes place after Christmas. Rory comes back from her trip to London with Logan. Lorelai has her doubts about her marriage with Christopher. Lane is super pregnant and is freaking out about her motherhood.
Friends
Thanksgiving
Season 1, Episode 9. The One Where Underdog Gets Away.
Everyone’s Thanksgiving plans get ruined, and they stay and have dinner all together, sharing memories of their worst celebration.
Season 2, Episode 9. The One with the List.
Ross kissed Rachel and now is trying to decide whether he should break up with his current girlfriend Julie (who’s very sweet, by the way). To help him make a decision, Chandler makes a list of the pros and cons of both girls on his new laptop. Rachel finds the list. Drama.
Season 3, Episode 9. The One with the Football.
Friends decide to play football in the park, girls against boys. Chandler and Joey are fighting over a girl. Everything ends with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
Season 4, Episode 8. The One with Chandler in a Box.
Chandler kissed Joe’s girlfriend, and now Joey is mad. Chandler asks what it would take for Joey to forgive him, and Joey tells him to spend Thanksgiving in a box. Monica tries to hook up with Richard’s son (bad idea!).
Season 5, Episode 8. The One with All the Thanksgivings.
This episode is basically a patchwork of everyone’s worst memories of Thanksgiving.
Season 6, Episode 9. The One Where Ross Got High.
Rachel makes a dessert for Thanksgiving dinner, and accidentally makes a hybrid of an English trifle and a shepherd’s pie. Joey loves it. Chandler wants Monica to tell her parents that they are a couple now. Monica is hesitant because her parents dislike Chandler. As it turns out, it’s because they caught Ross smoking weed in college, and he blamed it on Chandler.
Season 7, Episode 8. The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs.
Phoebe is dog-sitting her friends’ pet and smuggles the dog into Monica’s place. Chandler claims he’s allergic to dogs, but he just doesn’t like them. Rachel is hitting on her hot young assistant.
Season 8, Episode 9. The One with the Rumor.
All you need to know about this episode is that young Brad Pitt is in it. And his character hates Jennifer Aniston’s character.
Season 9, Episode 8. The One with Rachel’s Other Sister.
As the title suggests, Rachel’s sister shows up for Thanksgiving. What starts as a hypothetical discussion about who would adopt Emma if Rachel and Ross were to die, ends in a physical fight between Rachel and Amy (her sister).
Season 10, Episode 8. The One with the Late Thanksgiving.
Monica doesn’t want to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner this year, but everyone talks her into it. And then everyone is late for the dinner because Phoebe and Rachel took Emma to a baby beauty pageant, and Ross went with Joey to Rangers game. Monica is upset and locks everyone out but then receives a confirmation call from the adoption agency, and everything is good again.
Christmas
Season 1, Episode 10. The One with the Monkey.
Everyone’s dateless, and they decide to make a pact to celebrate the New Year without dates. Ross is the only one who follows through with that promise. Then everything goes wrong, and the friends end up celebrating by themselves, and Joey kisses Chandler at midnight.
Season 2, Episode. The One with Phoebe’s Dad.
Phoebe recognizes her father in one of the picture frame placeholders. Friends tell her that it’s just a random model guy. Phoebe asks her grandmother about it and, after a bunch of lies, gets her real dad’s address. Joey and Chandler go with her as moral support. But Phoebe doesn’t have enough courage to go and meet her father, ends up sitting in the car next to his house.
Season 3, Episode 10. The One Where Rachel Quits.
Rachel realizes that she hates her job. It was supposed to be temporary, but she has been serving coffee for over two years now. Chandler and Joey tell her she needs to quit, and she does. Joey is selling Christmas trees, and Phoebe freaks out when she learns that the old trees end up in the chopper. Ross accidentally breaks a girl scout’s leg and tries to make up for it. He takes the challenge of selling the most cookies to send the girl scout to a space camp.
Season 4, Episode 10. The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie.
Ross meets a wonderful girl, but she lives two hours away from the city. The struggle is real. Torn between the girl from Poughkeepsie and the girl who is less charming but lives close by, he ends up falling asleep on a train and wakes up in Canada. Chandler is setting Rachel up for a date with one of his co-workers. Monica works at a restaurant where everyone hates her. Joey decides to help out and tells her to hire him so that she can fire him and teach the rest of the crew a lesson.
Season 5, Episode 10. The One with the Inappropriate Sister.
Phoebe volunteers to collect money for the poor before Christmas and gets a spot by the Macy’s. Only some people don’t have much Christmas spirit in them and confuse her donation bucket for an ash-tray or a change jar. Ross wants to get Joey to write a script for his movie, but Joey only wants to play with Chandler “Fire Ball!”, a new game they invented. Rachel is dating Danny, their neighbor, and gets extremely uncomfortable when she learns how extremely close Danny is with his sister.
Season 6, Episode 10. The One with the Rocking’ New Year’s Eve.
Joey is dating his hot dancer roommate and hopes to kiss her at midnight. Monica and Ross are living their dream — they get invited onto Dick Clark’s show. Rachel, Phoebe, and Chandler are completely stressed out about what to get Monica for Christmas. They and are searching through her apartment for the gifts she prepared for them, only to find out that she got Chandler… wait for it… a humidifier?
Season 7, Episode 10. The One with the Holiday Armadillo.
It’s safe to say that this is one of the most remembered episodes of the show. Holiday Armadillo, Superman, and Santa come to wish little Ben merry Christmas. Phoebe is trying to get Rachel to move back in with her. And instead of talking about it (because where’s fun in that, right?), she is showering Joey with insane gifts (drums, a tarantula) to make Rachel want to move out.
Season 8, Episode. The One with Creepy Holiday Card.
Ross is dating Mona for a couple of months now, and suddenly she suggests to send Christmas cards together this year. And goes ahead and orders a hundred cards. Does she even know that many people? And Ross, of course, doesn’t have the guts to tell her that he’s not there yet, that it’s too soon. Instead, he gives her the keys to his apartment. The only keys. Rachel is pregnant with Ross’s baby, and because of her hormones finds everyone suddenly very attractive and quite arousing. Chandler hates his disgusting boss but has to spend time with him to maintain the relationships. To save Monica from spending time with the man, Chandler lies to his boss that he and Mon split up, and ends up spending the night in bars and strip clubs. Oh, what one wouldn’t do for true love.
Season 9, Episode 10. The One with Christmas in Tulsa.
Chandler is in Tulsa for work and has to work through the holidays. He feels bad for his co-workers and sends them home to be with their families on Christmas Eve. And then he quits his job and goes home for Christmas, too.
