Our take
The show's final Christmas is fittingly bittersweet. It is a busy, mostly funny ensemble piece around one dinner table, with everyone hiding something and the host trying to stop the lot of it from exploding. The A.V. Club found it tight and largely funny, and it earns its closing note: the sense that the family is about to scatter. A gentle goodbye to the Christmas tradition.
What happens
Cameron is desperate for a fight-free family Christmas dinner, because he is secretly about to fly to Missouri to interview for a head coaching job at a university there; if he gets it, this will be the family's last Christmas all together. Keeping the peace proves impossible. Luke has been seeing Manny's ex-girlfriend, Sherry, and Manny sets about wrecking the romance. Phil is cross with Gloria for interviewing at a rival estate agency. Claire spends the day dodging Jay, who wants her as vice president of his dog-bed business. Haley is delighted to be allowed wine again. Mitchell grows suspicious of Cam's sudden trip home. At the dinner table the arguments boil over and Cameron admits the truth, sure he has ruined everything, only for others to share changes of their own: Alex may move to New York for work, and Haley and Dylan have said they are open to moving to Paris. Jay and Claire also reach a new understanding about working together.
Can the kids watch it?
Best for children of 12 and up: the BBFC gave this episode a 12, mostly for jokes and references aimed at adults.