A Friends Holiday
New York’s holiday festivities are noted the world over, so it’s no surprise that a show set there would mark the season in a festive way. The backdrop of a New York winter, combined with the Friends’ own religious and cultural traditions, ensured that viewers often enjoyed memorable holiday episodes. Here is a sampling of Friends celebrations of Christmas, Chanukah, and other December holidays over the years:
Season 1 - TOW The Monkey This episode centers around the New Year’s Eve bash at Monica’s and the not-so-gradual dissolution of the Friends’ “no-date pact.” In a Christmas-themed twist, Joey meets his date (a single mom) while working as a department-store elf. Meanwhile, Phoebe brings David, Chandler brings Janice (of course), and Ross brings Marcel.
Season 2 - TOW Phoebe’s Dad Monica throws a holiday party in her very own sauna after the knob on her radiator breaks; meanwhile, holiday tipping becomes a source of tension. Meanwhile, Chandler and Joey, who accompany Phoebe on her quest to meet her dad, return with some rather unconventional Christmas presents for the gang.
Season 3 - TOW Rachel Quits In this episode, Joey gets a job selling Christmas trees, while Ross lands his own gig selling Christmas cookies to help a little girl meet her sales goals.
Season 4 - TOW The Girl From Poughkeepsie This season’s festivities were limited to a very unique Phoebe song, in which all of her friends were included (albeit in rather unusual fashion).
Season 5 - TOW All The Resolutions The Friends make New Year’s resolutions - and Rachel’s resolution not to gossip comes at a most inconvenient time.
Season 6 - TOW The Routine Rachel and Phoebe enlist Chandler’s help in searching for Monica’s Christmas presents, while Joey, Monica and Ross bust a move on the set of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
Season 7 - TOW The Candy & TOW The Holiday Armadillo Monica kicks off the holiday season by making festive candy for the neighbors - who still don’t know her name. Then, Ross suits up as the Holiday Armadillo to teach Ben about Chanukah, and incorporates Santa and Superman in the lesson. Meanwhile, Phoebe shows off her prized Christmas skull, which serves as a reminder that “even though it’s Christmas, people still die.”
Season 8 - TOW The Creepy Holiday Card Ross and Mona’s relationship is progressing at warp speed - or at least that’s what the card would have you believe.
Season 9 - TOW Christmas In Tulsa Spending Christmas away from Monica leads Chandler to realize his priorities for the future.
No holiday episode in Season 10.
Friends, Christmas, Chanukah, New Year’s, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer
December 29th, 2007 at 9:50 am
[...] would have us believe, it seems that Jen is spending the season with those who mean a lot to her - her friends. On Christmas Eve, a smiling Jen was spotted and snapped leaving Mastro’s, with Courteney [...]