"See you at 5:30 for the morning zoo!"
"If only I destroyed that thing when I had the chance."
—Bob, about Gene's album
After Gene breaks his favorite, extremely rare '70s era Christmas record, Tina and Louise join him in the search for another copy. Meanwhile, Teddy wants to do a Secret Santa with Bob and Linda.
Gene's Christmas Tropes:
- Brick Joke: Early on, Tina mentions she's horrible at gift wrapping. When the Belchers provide Gene a replacement album, Tina mentions she wrapped it, which is very apparent.
- Continuity Nod:
- Louise still has her loft bed.
- A poster for Tabitha Johansson's "Oil Spill" is seen at the record store.
- In Bob's Burgers S3E6 "The Deepening" Gene found a retainer in the restaurant and thought it was his even though he doesn't wear a retainer. Here Courtney calls thinking Gene left his retainer at her place, only for Louise to tell her Gene doesn't have one.
- Covered Up: Invoked. Gene dreams that Percy McTinsel-bud tells him that the Belchers' cover of his album is actually pretty good, and suggests that Gene's son will inherit it, then break it and his family will re-record it in turn.
- Dreadful Musician: The Belchers try to recreate the Christmas album themselves. Emphasis on try.
- Eccentric Artist: Percy McTinsel-bud, the singer on Gene's record Percy McTinsel-bud's Tinsel Machine, certainly gives the impression of being one.
- Everyone Has Standards: Percy McTinsel-bud is such an obnoxious album even Linda isn't fond of it. Subverted in that she's still initially the most sympathetic when Gene breaks the record.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Gene is putting his Percy McTinsel-bud album on the record player, it shows the five songs on Side One are called "Percy McTinsel-bud's Tinsel Machine," "Santa's Groove Shop," "Elves are People Too," "Space Reindeer," and "Teacup Kittens."
- The rest of the album's tracks can be seen on the back of the cover in Bob's flashback of Gene first finding the record, starting with song 6 they are "Santa Upstairs", "I'm Excited for Christmas", "Sparklenatural", and "Ginderbread Fred".
- G-Rated Stoner: In Gene's dream, Percy McTinsel-bud notes, "Back where I come from, we're still keeping it funky and skunky," pretty heavily implying some marijuana use.
- It's All About Me: Played With. Teddy suggested the Secret Santa idea and tried to make it just about him, Bob, and Linda. When Linda invites Mike and Mort in on the idea, Teddy becomes hostile and whiny as he feels they're horning on his idea (i.e. horning in on his attempt to hoard Linda and Bob's attention all to himself). It's clear he did want to get a gift for one of the two, so it isn't entirely selfish.
- Jerkass Ball: Teddy gets pissed when Mort and Mike join in on his Secret Santa idea, and remains hostile to Mort in particular. He grows to regret it at the end.
- Mundane Luxury: Linda's gift to Bob is getting their car washed.
- Never My Fault: It was Louise who suggested re-recording the broken album, but when Gene rejects it, she claims it was all Tina's idea.
- Nice Guy: Mort's gift turns out to be the best and the most thoughtful. He got Teddy a plaque to designate his seat at the counter since he's always at the restaurant.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A literal example. Gene's plotline happens because he broke his own record while he was sleeping with it. He only grows more and more depressed about this when it becomes clear he's not finding another copy due to it being insanely rare.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction: Gene hadn't even played his family's cover of the album for more than ten seconds before he shut it off and screamed "No!"
- Noodle Incident:
- Tina is so bad at wrapping that Linda once threw out a gift from her assuming it was garbage.
- Linda once farted on Gene's pillow.
- Someone threw a retainer in Courtney's yard.
- No Sympathy: Gene constantly playing the record was so obnoxious that Bob, Tina, and Louise aren't too torn up about it breaking. Louise only joins the hunt for a replacement to get out of work, and Tina only joins in because Louise insisted she join. They eventually start to feel bad for Gene, however, and work together to raise his spirits.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Gene doesn't even want any food when he realizes that there's next-to-no chance of him getting another copy of his record.
- Pushover Parents: Once again Bob and Linda let one of their children, Gene in this case, run rampant over the house while being unable and unwilling to take control. Even when they make him go to bed, he cheerfully announces he'll be back at 5:30AM.
- Riddle for the Ages: So whose retainer did Courtney find in her yard?
- Secret Santa: Teddy proposes the idea for himself, Bob, and Linda. Mort and Mike later join, but predictably things don't go to plan. In the end, however, everyone is more-or-less happy with the gifts they receive.
- Bob doesn't want to do it, but goes along for Linda's sake. He ends up drawing Mike's name, and has no idea what to get him. He eventually settles on a gift card, which he feels bad about, but Mike actually likes it.
- Linda is the only one truly enthusiastic about it, and tells Bob and Teddy they can't get any help with picking a gift. She drew Bob's name, and got the car washed. As mundane as it sounds, Bob is genuinely appreciative.
- Teddy wanted it to be solely between himself, Bob, and Linda, and becomes outright hostile to Mort when he joins in. Naturally, he draws Mort's name and is pissed (as he wanted one of the Belchers), asking if he can swap and later calling Linda to try and come up with a gift idea. He settles on a barn-themed calendar, which he eventually realizes was crappy, but Mort tries to spare his feelings (and doesn't really dislike it anyway).
- Mort in turn gets Teddy a genuinely good gift—a special plaque to designate his seat at the restaurant. It's so thoughtful that Teddy immediately regrets being so pissed at him throughout the entire episode (and that he got Mort such a crappy gift in return).
- Mike got Linda. He never admits it, but it's super obvious because he gave her a bunch of stamps.
- Shout-Out:
- The Store Next Door is "It's a Wonderful Knife".
- The Exterminator Van and Burgers of the Day are all based on Christmas Songs.
- The Exterminator Van is "You Better Not Mouse, You Better Not Flies".
- The first Burger of the Day is the "Challah and The Chive-y Burger".
- The second Burger of the Day is the "You Cheddar Watch Out, You Cheddar Not Rye Burger".
- The third Burger of the Day is the "Jingle Bell Pepper Rock Burger".
- The fourth Burger of the Day is the "It Came Upon a Midnight Gruyere Burger".
- Linda says Gene has "Two turntables and a mistletoe", a reference to "Where It's At" by Beck.
- The first record Gene plays is by the Tiny Little Mice, which appears to be the show's version of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
- The record store when the kids look for a new copy of Percy McTinsel-bud's Tinsel Machine is called My Cousin Spinny.
- This Is My Chair: Teddy wants to place his gift from Mort, a plaque with his name on it, on the stool he always sits. Bob's suggestion of putting it under the seat subtly implies he does not want Teddy to put it where any customer would sit.
- Third Wheel: Or fourth and fifth wheel; Teddy considers Mort and Mike this during the Secret Santa, as he wanted to do it with just Bob and Linda. Though it's strictly platonic (and if it were romantic, it's just on his end).
