Christmas is one of the most wonderful period of the year, often marked by the Christmas special episode of our favourite TV series. For instance Friends, which remains one of the most famous and hilarious series of all time, had specials. Its first Christmas episode aired in 1995, The One With Phoebe’s Dad. Remember when Monica and Rachel had to do a tropical Christmas party because of their broken radiator? Remember when Chandler and Joey bought their presents? Remember Phoebe’s christmas song? The traditions of the Christmas specials ended in 2002’s season 9 episode ‘The One With Christmas in Tulsa’, when Chandler had to work in Tulsa during Christmas and remembered all those memories from past years celebrations. Well, all of these moments melted our heart and offered us moments that will never be forgotten.
However, if one of those brilliant episodes must be picked as the best one, then it would be in my opinion the season 7’s ‘The One With The Holiday Armadillo’. Ross spends Christmas holidays with Ben for the first time and tries to tell him about Jewish tradition, however Ben is not thrilled by the idea. Ross dresses up as the Holiday Armadillo to narrate the story of the Festival of Lights, and is subsequently interrupted by Chandler as Santa and later Joey as Superman. All try to interest Ben in the Hanukkah tradition for Ross, with even Joey explaining how Superman flew all the Jews out of Egypt. This episode combined the familial moments of sharing from father to son with wittiness, laugheter and, of course, friendship.
Finally, those eight episodes seem to be all different from one another but in fact, they all simply are the same story told differently. A story of joy and celebration shared between important people in one’s life. This is what Christmas is all about; and this is why Friends might be the best series to represent the Christmas spirit in its special festive episodes.
