Our take
The first Christmas outing is still one of the sharpest, because it is built on a parenting mistake every household recognises: a punishment too big to enforce. Three stories run side by side and every one of them lands. The A.V. Club called it one of the funniest Christmas episodes of its season. The Dunphy cancellation storyline is the spine, but the guilty trip to the mall grotto, and the dinner guest it produces, is where most of the laughs live.
What happens
Christmas is well under way in the Dunphy house when a cigarette burn turns up on the sofa and none of the three children will own up to it. Phil and Claire threaten to cancel Christmas until somebody confesses, then find that a threat this size is far easier to make than to carry out. Across town, Jay wants the Christmas he remembers from his first marriage, complete with his favourite old film, while Gloria and Manny want to bring in their Colombian customs, from a traditional practical joke to fireworks and cheese fritters. Mitchell and Cameron queue at the mall for Lily's first photograph with Santa, complain about the thin and unjolly man in the chair, and get him fired. Racked with guilt, they invite him to dinner, then panic about who they have let in. Cameron is still smarting at being pushed out of his carol group. Phil's father makes a brief appearance on a video call that shows only the top of his head.
Can the kids watch it?
Fine for most families: the BBFC rates it PG, so it suits children of about 8 and up, with a little grown-up joking that will pass younger ones by.