Series / The Santa Clauses

Spoilers for all The Santa Clause works preceding this one will be left unmarked.

He’s coming back to town.

The Santa Clauses is a Christmas fantasy comedy series and Sequel Series to the Santa Clause film trilogy. It is directed by Jason Winer and showrun by Jack Burdit (30 Rock, Modern Family) with Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, Eric Lloyd, and David Krumholtz returning from the original movies. Kal Penn and Laura San Giacomo join the cast of Season 1, while Eric Stonestreet and Gabriel Iglesias join the cast of Season 2.

The series premiered on Disney+ on November 16, 2022. While originally billed as a miniseries, the second season was ordered in December 2022, and premiered on November 8, 2023.

In Season 1, on the brink of his 65th birthday, Scott Calvin realizes his powers as Santa Claus are fading and he may not be able to keep running the North Pole. Upon learning of a "Successus Clause" he takes stock of his life and family and decides to retire. He selects struggling tech entrepreneur Simon Chokski as his replacement and hopes to build a new stage of his life back in Chicago. Unfortunately, Simon is ill-prepared for the role and begins making radical changes to how Christmas is run, and there are more secrets to the Santa Clause than even the elves fully understand.

Following this, in Season 2 Scott names his middle son Cal as his official successor, and begins training him to take up the mantle of Santa. Meanwhile, the dreaded Magnus Antas - an infamous Santa Claus from the 1300s - has awakened after several centuries of slumber, and seeks to take revenge on the elves who imprisoned him and reclaim his position at the North Pole.

Previews: Teaser, Trailer

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The Santa Clauses includes examples of:

• 10-Minute Retirement: Scott’s attempts to retire are put on hold once the new Santa’s efforts put the elves’ lives in jeopardy.
• Addiction Displacement: Scott retires as Santa because the energy put into delivering Christmas presents was causing strain with his family. Once they move to Chicago the kids go to school and Carol finds a new job as a school principal, leaving Scott without a job to keep him occupied. The job he does find? Delivering packages with Simon's "Everything Now" startup.
• Aerith and Bob:
  • While looking for the elves in episode five, Scott sounds out for "Pudding, Goose, Crumpet, and Bob."
  • When Santa calls the reindeer, he uses their names from "A Visit from St. Nicholas." Sandra, who can talk to animals, tells him that they prefer to be called "Chopper," "Razor," "The Hoofster," "Atomic," "Hot Shot," "Pretty Boy," "Airbender," and "Steve."
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Betty and Noel have a sickening amount of these for one another, all based around desserts.
  • Cal and Riley start calling each other “floofy” in season 2.
• Amplifier Artifact: Magnus Antas' amulet which is revealed to be Scott's favorite mug. With it he's more than a match for Scott with his full Santa magic.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • When arguing with Simon about Christmas Every Day, Betty complains that it takes away the ancipation of waiting for Christmas, that it detracts from the spirit of giving, and people won't know when to watch It's a Wonderful Life.
  • Seventeen mentions that he served through the Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam and The Star Wars Holiday Special.
• Ascended Extra: Charlie was Demoted to Extra in The Santa Clause 3 but he has more of a role in “The Successus Clause”.
• Ascended Fridge Horror:
  • Cal points out that Santa is at risk of being murdered by psychopaths that want the role for themselves.
  • Scott wonders how the elves will take his retirement announcement because they seemed oddly casual about the last Santa dying, making you wonder if they even liked him. This came from Tim Allen's own observation of the first movie. Turns out the last Santa didn't die and had actually planned for Scott taking over for him. The elves were so casual about it because he told them about his plan so they were prepared.
• As Himself: Peyton Manning appears in the third episode as an applicant for Santa, looking to rub it in Tom Brady’s face. He doesn't get the job.
• Aspect Ratio Switch: During flashbacks, both from Scott's perspective to moments from the original movie and from Simon's to the first christmas after losing his wife, the aspect ratio shifts from a cinematic 2:35 to 16:9.
• Bad Santa:
  • In Season 1, Simon gradually starts to slip into this the longer he stays in the job. While he genuinely means well and wants the world to be able to get what they want for Christmas, his ego starts swelling up as most of the elves actually start doing what he wants instead of pushing back, and starts spending less time with his daughter. Then, when Christmas spirit starts fading away faster and faster and the elves begin to disappear (including right in front of him), he dismisses their turning to dust as them not getting with the program, and fires Betty for daring to stand up to him. In the sixth episode, he eventually gets fed up with Scott and the others trying to take his job and almost burns the legendary Santa coat to spite them, though he's thankfully talked down before he can resort to this.
  • Betty briefly recalls in Season 1 that during the Dark Ages, there was a "Mad Santa" who threatened the very existence of Christmas before he was taken down and replaced. This particular Santa, Magnus Antas, returns in Season 2 as its Big Bad.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Carol is slightly more ready for Scott to retire and return to normal life than he is, and was excited to relax back into casual clothes. But when they are about to leave a long line of elves ask her for a last hug, making her tearfully ask Scott to recant this decision.
  • Scott's retirement and moving his family to Chicago came with a few adjustment issues but was a generally positive experience for everyone. But he never anticipated how Simon was going to misuse the position and never fully understood the underlying magic that came with the Santa Clause to begin with.
  • Betty is the main elf that pushes for Scott to retire, thinking that they would be better off with a new Santa, as she only looks at things through efficiency. Simon ends up being a mirror reflection to her, caring even more so about such things, and demotes her to working on toys.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Cal and Riley get one in the final episode.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: As Santa, Mrs. Claus, Cal and Riley fly over New York, Santa leans forward in the sleigh:

  Santa: And a Merry Christmas to you!

• Broken Pedestal: In Season 2, Scott becomes curious when he learns about the existence of a previous Santa known as Magnus Antas, and tries to do his own research into it when the elves refuse to tell him anything. From his limited findings, Scott begins to almost admire Magnus Antas for his apparent achievements, but he quickly changes his mind when Betty finally explains the full story and he hears what an infamous tyrant Magnus Antas really was, even more so when he eventually meets him in person.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Former head elf Bernard returns in the fifth episode, following his absence from the third movie. It's explained that he left the North Pole because he fell in love with a human woman, namely Vanessa Redgrave.
  • The 17th Santa Claus, aka the Santa who fell off Scott's roof, returns and reveals he didn't actually die in the first film and planned for Scott to become the new Santa.
  • Simon pulls some toy soldiers from the second movie out of storage.
  • The season 2 trailer confirms that Sandman and Cupid will be returning, having last appeared in the third movie. Cupid is the first to return, showing up in episode 2 to convey the council’s concern over Scott naming Cal as his successor. Sandman shows up 2 episodes later to check up on Cal's progress for the Council.
• Call-Back:
  • In episode 1, we revisit the girl who was Scott's first stop after putting on the coat in the first movie. He enters the house by squishing through the tiny chimney in exactly the same way.
  • In a rather dark example, episode one ends with Santa face down in the snow after a fall, much like how he found his predecessor.
  • When Betty shows Santa the Successus Clause on the Santa Clause card, the scene is staged the same way as the one in the second movie where Curtis and Bernard show Santa the Mrs. Clause, even featuring the elaborate magnifying device from said scene.
  • Charlie's desire to follow Scott into the "family business" from the first film's ending is brought up when Scott is looking for a successor and was Scott's first choice. Unfortunately Charlie has since changed his mind due to having kids of his own and having witnessed what Scott's younger kids (aka his half-siblings) are like, not wanting his kids to grow up like them.
  • Scott and Carol send Cal and Sandra to the same school Carol used to work at in the second movie, which was also Charlie's high school.
  • E.L.F.S return from the first film, though thanks to funding cuts they've been reduced to one security guy in a dingy office.
  • In episode 6, Simon finds some of the Toy Santa's giant soldiers from the second movie, which were apparently kept in storage for some reason. Carol finds them raiding the Clauses' apartment and unleashes a Curb-Stomp Battle on them.
  • When Simon wakes up at home after bring returned from the pole, he is wearing the red "SC" Pajamas that Scott woke up in after the night he put on the coat in the first movie.
  • The closing scene of episode 6, a party to celebrate a successful Christmas, is staged similarly to the scene in the first movie when Scott arrives at the pole for the first time.
  • In Episode 6, we get to see what is essentially a remake of the re-santafication sequence at the end of the second movie, albeit with better effects.
  • In season 2, Magnas Antas’s amulet turns out to be Scott’s favourite metal mug - the one Judy served him cocoa in way back when he first stumbled into the pole.
  • The watch Scott used to measure his magic in the second film, returns as way for Scott to temporarily revert to his non-Santa self.
  • Carol uses the same stare on Noel used used on that skateboarder in 2.
• The Cameo: Paige Tamada, who portrayed Judy the elf in the original Santa Clause, appears in Season 2 as an unnamed employee at Kris' Santapolis theme park. Interestingly, this character is also shown making and serving cocoa, which Magnus Antas seem to find familiar when he tastes it, potentially implying that she is in fact an older Judy.
• Canon Character All Along: It’s revealed in the final episode of Season 2 that Kris, the owner of the Santa theme park, was actually the recipient of the kayak that Scott struggled with on one of his very first deliveries back in the original movie.
• Celebrity Paradox: Scott briefly mentions that Lucas owns pajamas with Buzz Lightyear printed on said pajamas. Tim Allen had voiced Buzz in Pixar's Toy Story franchise. Of course, he's not the only actor to have done so.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
  • Despite featuring a return to Scott's hometown (as evidenced by Sycamore High reappearing from the second movie), Neil, Laura and Lucy do not appear, nor are they even mentioned.
  • Carol's parents Bud and Sylvia receive zero mention.
  • None of the other legendary figures return for season 1. Some, like Father Time, the Molinator and the Easter Bunny would be unable to return due to their actors having passed, yet you'd think Mother Nature, Sandman or Cupid might drop in on a long-serving Santa's retirement party, or even that Jack Frost would pay a visit given it was Santa (and his niece) who helped him change his ways right? No, although Jack was mentioned in episode 2.
    • This is ultimately corrected for the second season, with trailers revealing Sandman, Cupid and the Easter Bunny are back, albeit with the latter having been subjected to The Other Darrin, with Tracy Morgan taking the role due to the passing of his original actor, Jay Thomas
• Christmas Every Day: Simon intends to do this by turning the North Pole into an Amazon-esque mail order service.
• Company Cross References: Notably in "Chapter Four: The Shoes Off the Bed Clause".
  • At the start of the episode, Scott notices Lucas holding a Grogu plush and briefly mentions the child owns Buzz Lightyear-themed pajamas.
  • When Edie, one of the elves, vanishes into thin air, her last words before doing so are "I don't feel so good."
• Continuity Nod:
  • The previous clauses from the movies are shown on the card with the Successus Clause.
  • Betty reminds Noel about the Toy Santa from the second movie when he proposes to duplicate Santa.
  • The Clauses still have their big Santa-face fireplace from the third movie.
  • Jack Frost's attempt to hijack Christmas in the third film is referenced.
  • When Noel begins to stress due to Betty's absence in the second season, he is diagnosed with a condition called Curtis-itis, of course named for the regularly highly strung Curtis from the second and third movies.
  • The plot point that Legendary Figures can't use their powers on each other from The Escape Clause is brought up as to why the Council was unable to deal with the Mad Santa. La Befana had to resign her status to turn Magnus Antas into a nutcracker.
  • In Season 2, Kris repeatedly claims that he saw Santa as a child, explaining why he's held onto his belief even as an adult. This is confirmed in the finale, where a flashback reveals that he was the boy that Scott delivered the green canoe to, during his very first run as Santa in the original film.
• Cool Aunt: La Befana becomes this to Sandra as she helps her with her burgeoning magic powers in season 2. Scott even name-drops the trope while trying to comfort a jealous Carol.
• Cool Big Sis: Sandra is quick to take Grace under her wing when the younger girl and her father, Simon, arrive at the North Pole.
• Daddy's Girl: Simon Choksi and his daughter Grace are extremely close.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
  • Scott finds it difficult to put aside his Santa mannerisms when back in a normal life. Approaching children with a familiar tone and randomly saying "Ho, Ho, Ho" takes on a different tone when it is done by a regular looking guy and not the fat man in a red suit.
  • When bringing Cal and Sandra to school, Carol instinctively goes back into principal mode and tries to send someone to her (non-existent) office.
• Distant Sequel: Takes place almost two decades after the third film.
• Double-Meaning Title: The Santa Clauses not only refers to the Calvin-Claus family themselves, with Cal and Sandra both inheriting some of Scott's Christmas powers, but the various clauses of the contract, which Scott learns were actually created specifically for him and his family.
• Edible Theme Naming: While the higher-up elves seem to have normal names like Betty, Noel, and Bernard, the rest seem to follow this pattern, with elves named Noodle, Churro, and Peppermint just for starters.
• Fallen Hero: Magnus Antas was once a great Santa but over the centuries of his tenure became The Caligula obsessing over the ungratefulness of humans culminating in his attempt to turn the children of the world into nutcrackers.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: After two decades living at the pole, Carol and Scott have missed some developments, at one point talking about renting a VCR from Circuit City and then some VHS tapes from Blockbuster.
• Foil: Simon Choksi is presented as one to Scott Calvin. Both of them are single parents and prominent figures in the toy industry who wind up taking on the role of Santa, but their paths diverge in a number of different ways.
  • Simon is the owner of his own company, but is a joke amongst the toy and video game industry because his delivery system can't get any orders out on time. Scott was a high ranking member of a toy company's marketing team, and very well respected.
  • Both are struggling to raise a kid on their own, but Simon is making an earnest effort to be there for his daughter in spite of the fact he's down on his luck, while Scott was so caught up in his work that he barely made an effort to be there for Charlie.
  • Simon's wife died, while Scott's divorced him.
  • Simon is given the role and responsibilities of Santa Claus by Scott after being handpicked to be his successor, while Scott accidentally obtained it when he scared the last Santa off the roof and put on the suit.
  • Simon is initially hesitant to become Santa, but is convinced to accept the role by his daughter, much like how Scott was eventually persuaded to take the role by his son. However, while Scott Took a Level in Kindness and embraced the role of Santa to become a much better person, thereby strengthening his bond with Charlie, Simon lets the power of the Claus go to his head and Took a Level in Jerkass, ignoring his own child in the process.
  • Scott continues to embrace the various Christmas traditions in spite of the fact that the world is losing a lot of its Christmas Spirit. Simon, meanwhile, ignores them in favor of making it Christmas Every Day and acts more like a big-headed CEO trying to keep up with the times.
  • Scott is very respectful and kind towards the elves, even acting like a father to many of them. Simon expects them to act as his Yes Men , and when they start disappearing, scoffs it away as them not getting in with the program.
• For Doom the Bell Tolls: In the second half of the trailer, once it’s made clear Christmas is in trouble and elves start disappearing, a slow bell can be heard tolling over the footage.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Turns out Scott had actually first met his predecessor (Santa 17) back when he was a kid waiting for him on Christmas Eve. Scott doesn't remember it because Santa 17 used his magic to make Scott forget about it since the whole point of Santa is that people have to believe without proof.
• Flashback: The series occasionally flashes back to the beginning of Scott's time as Santa by showing scenes from the first movie.
• Flashback with the Other Darrin: The Easter Bunny in this series is now played by Tracy Morgan and has a completely different design from Jay Thomas' original Easter Bunny shown in the previous Santa Clause films. While it initially seems that the previous Easter Bunny passed on his mantle at some point, the new Easter Bunny is also shown in one of Mad Santa's flashbacks set centuries before the events of the trilogy, seemingly retconning the previous Easter Bunny out of existence.
• Funny Background Event: In the first episode, the pie chart Simon Choksi is looking at has Apple, eBay and Walmart as inferior delivery options to Santa Claus himself, with a healthy 17% for old Saint Nick (labeled as “Unknown”), until you get to the last 48%... which is solely Amazon...
• Happily Married:
  • Scott and Carol were forced into a Fourth-Date Marriage in the second film, but it's shown that they are still very happy together. Carol can be a little sarcastic over her more abstract role as Mrs. Claus but it's clear they have a lot of affection for each other.
  • Simon and his late wife are heavily implied to have been this as well.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Simon has one when he is reminded of what Christmas really means by his daughter.
  • Magnus Antas and Olga both turnover a new leaf with Magnus going to work at Santaland.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: E.L.F.S (Effective Liberating Flight Squad) have become this thanks to Betty cutting their funding. They've slid from the highly skilled response force they were under Bernard to consisting of one out of shape guy in a dingy little office.
• Immortality Begins at Twenty: The series in general has had the elves as appearing to be in the 10-12 year old range while Really 700 Years Old, with Bernard an outlier who appeared to be a teenager in the first movie (while evidently older in the second film, David Krumholtz was passable as being roughly the same appearance). As Bernard appears in this series it's explained that prolonged contact with the outside world will cause an Elf to age and since Bernard was the oldest and the Head Elf doing many excursions to the human world he naturally aged a little more. His absence from the third film and subsequent much older appearance in this series is explained that he fell in love with a human woman (Vanessa Redgrave) and settled down, now realistically looking like a man in his forties.
• Insult Backfire: During their confrontation in the Season 2 finale, Scott snarks that the desk in the office can't possibly belong to Magnus Antas, because the plaque on it says "Santa" and not "Weird Creepy Guy". Magnus Antas then uses his magic to change the plaque to say just that, having not realized that this description is not something to be proud of.
• Internal Deconstruction: The series deconstructs several elements of both the film trilogy and the traditional Santa Clause mythos:
  • Carol reveals that she's felt burdened by the responsibilities of being Mrs. Claus, such as the fact that most of the world thinks of her as the character's popular image of an old housewife which is nothing like her actual personality.
  • Cal and Sandra, Scott and Carol's kids, have had their social skills stunted due to growing up in isolation at the North Pole without other kids and are desperate to explore the outside world. Charlie himself recognizes this is a problem and doesn't want to take over for Scott because he doesn't want to put his own kids through that.
• Legacy Character:
  • When the time to retire approaches, Scott realizes he knows little to nothing about his predecessors. The elves seemed oddly casual about the last Santa dying. Betty later talks with Simon about the missing Santa coat, and she says it was made from the coat the original St. Nick wore, the first indication of an origin story to the title. It's revealed that the entire Santa Claus world came from the original St. Nick causing such a swelling of hope that it spawned the magic that created the elves, with prior Santas also magical beings born of the same magic and intended to serve each era a little differently. Scott was actually the first human Santa, selected because his predecessor believed a human Santa was needed to help maintain the spirit of Christmas and Scott had met the previous Santa when he was a child. Bernard outlines that Scott's recruitment was planned ahead of time and allows him to meet all of the previous Santa incarnations.
  • In conjunction with the above, Carol realizes that she may actually be the FIRST Mrs. Claus. The character was possibly a fanciful marketing gimmick, but she never had an actual predecessor at the North Pole.
• Letting Her Hair Down: When Scott discusses retiring with the family and makes the decision, Carol is prepared to relax her very high-top bun. After the first pin is released, the rest have to dive for cover as the rest of the pins explode off in a Flechette Storm.
• Living Clothes: Santa's coat. When Scott hands it to Simon at his retirement ceremony, it tries to escape Simon's grasp. Then, on Simon's first official day as Santa, the coat disappears. At first it's assumed Simon has lost it, but it turns out it somehow left on its own and went to La Befana's house.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Charlie has yet to tell his wife that his dad is Santa Claus, with her still thinking Scott manages a shrimp fleet after several years.
• Meaningful Name: Simon's last name, Choksi, is phonetically very close to the Yiddish word "tchotchke," a small object that is decorative rather than strictly functional. Simon is in the business of selling (and delivering) everything.
• Missing Mom: Grace Choksi's mom (and Simon's wife) died from what is implied to be cancer or another terminal illness shortly before the events of the series.
• Monochrome Past: The Great Depression-set period where Scott is taken to in Episode 5 is in monochrome tones. Scott openly points out the changes in colour both while there and when returning to the present day.
• Oh, Crap!: Santa’s retirement announcement is met with panic among the elves. This is actually a relief to Scott, who was worried they would be surprisingly okay with it like the last Santa disappearing without warning.
• Overcomplicated Menu Order: While visiting a coffee shop, Scott orders a coffee with instructions to add sweet ingredients like cookies, peppermint, and chocolate. The barista has to use both sides of the cup sleeve to get it all down. Carol orders black coffee.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Simon is VERY protective of his daughter, Grace (to the point of refusing to go anywhere without her).
  • Scott is shown to be this with his kids (particularly Cal) at times, too.
• Passing the Torch: Invoked three times. Scott originally believes he is getting too old to be Santa and that his magic is faltering as a result. He first intends to pass the role to Charlie ^note who had dreams as a kid to one day succeed his father in the role, who turns it down because the North Pole is not a good place to raise a family. Eventually, Simon is selected to be the next Santa, but he never actually puts the coat on, having lost it because it deemed him unworthy. Simon's tenure proves disastrous, exacerbating the actual problem, a decline in Christmas spirit, that Scott assumed had to do with his age. Scott takes back the role just in time for Christmas, but turns it into a family operation. When the time comes when he truly is too old for the job, it is heavily suggested that Cal, who inherited some of his powers already, will assume the title and role, with Sandra as his second-in-command.. By Season 2, Scott has officially begun training up Cal to succeed him. Ultimately after seeing how much strain this is putting on Cal, Scott opts to step back and let Cal live his own life so he can take the job when he's ready.
• Power Incontinence: Sandra is dealing with increasingly strong and difficult to control powers as season 2 begins and seeks help from La Befana to manage it.
• Practically Different Generations: Charlie is now in his thirties and has children of his own while his younger half-siblings Cal and Sandra are in their teens.^note  If their actors' ages are accurate, Eric Lloyd is 36 to Austin Kane's 18 and Elizabeth Allen-Dick's 13 which would put Charlie at 18 years older than Cal and 23 years older than Sandra.
• Put on a Bus:
  • While Bernard appears during the present day setting in the fifth episode, he isn't shown in person during any of the flashbacks to the 1300s in Season 2, due to David Krumholtz having aged too much to look like his younger self from before the original film's events. It's explained during these scenes that Bernard was temporarily banished from the North Pole due to disagreeing with Magnus Antas, but he was eventually reinstated as the Head Elf when the latter was overthrown by Betty and the other elves.
  • Despite holding the position of Head Elf in the third film, Curtis doesn't return in the series. His absence is finally explained in the Season 2 finale, when Scott mentions that Curtis went on Kribble Krabble - an obligated leave period where the Head Elf is sent to explore the human world - and didn't come back, implying that Curtis gave up his position and chose to live as a human, just as Bernard had previously done.
• Raised by Wolves: While they are Spoiled Sweet, Cal and Sandra have some maladjusted social skills because they've known nothing besides their parents, elves, and some of the local magical beings. Cal especially is fascinated with mundane things like mowing a lawn.
• Remember the New Guy?: Betty the Head Elf and Noel who is Santa's personal assistant, among a few other named elves, are newly introduced to the show. Excepting Bernard and Curtis, this has been the case for each installment because the pre-teen actors cast in the roles grow out of them shortly after.
• Revision: A lot of elements and issues around Scott becoming Santa that were implied in the original film trilogy are revisited here. Episode 5 especially "corrects" some previous thoughts. It isn't fully a Retcon, as the details of the magic and legacy of Santa were never explored that much previously:
  • It's revealed that Scott is actually the first human Santa. The Santas before him were all magical beings, just like the elves. So before Scott, there was no human recruited to become Santa.
  • It's also revealed that the previous Santa falling from his house leading to Scott taking the mantle as shown in the first movie wasn't a coincidence as Scott (and the audience) thought. The previous Santa planned the accident. Also, Scott was handpicked to be the first human Santa thanks to an exchange between him and Santa when he was still a boy which Scott forgot about. The previous films played Scott becoming Santa as a happy incident that made Scott a better person. This also explains why the elves weren't really shocked or mourning for the old Santa after Scott came as the new Santa in the first movie - they were aware of his arrival.
  • This also means that the clauses in Santa's contract weren't even a thing before Scott took on the mantle. All the clauses were made especially for Scott in his role as first human Santa, to help him fulfill the role. Especially the Mrs. Clause is revealed to have been made to make Santa have human offspring with magical powers. And the reason for all of this is because while Elves are immortal and unchanging, and the magical Santas are all of their time, a human Santa Claus would be able to change with the times and truly give people what they needed to keep the Christmas magic alive.
  • In the original film, Judy gave Scott a cup of cocoa during his first night at the North Pole, and Scott has continued to drink out of this same distinctly-shaped mug throughout all the films and this series. The Season 2 finale reveals that this mug is actually the "magic amulet" that Magnus Antas gains his power from.
• Saving Christmas: Again. Scott’s successor, Simon Choksi, is causing problems at the North Pole by trying to reshape it into an Amazon-esque delivery service, causing the elves to vanish into thin air. This forces Scott to halt his retirement plans to set things right.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Edie the Elf vanishes into thin air in episode 4, her last words before doing so are "I don't feel so good."
  • Also in episode 4, we get an allusion to Elf as Cal explains to Riley why he goes by his middle name (Calvin) instead of his first name (Buddy). "Do you know how many elves are named Buddy?"
  • When Befana appears between Scott and Simon out of a cloud to stop them from reaching the coat in episode 6, Simon calls it a Smoke Monster. To which Carol wonders where she has seen this before.
  • In episode 6, when Scott sees the aftermath of Carol's Curb-Stomp Battle against the giant plastic soldiers from the second movie, he compares her to John Wick.
  • When Cal comes through the elf door after living in the 'real world' for most of the year, he clunks his head on the door frame. Tim Allen's character ''Tim Taylor'' would hit his head in a similar manner.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Sandra is able to hear what the reindeer are saying. Later, the same thing happens to her with a horse.
• Sucksessor: Simon is seen as such by many of the elves even before his Sanity Slippage and in the end, Scott decides it's not time yet to retire until he finds and trains a worthy successor for the mantle of Santa.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • When the subject of retiring from being Santa and choosing a successor is brought up, Scott decides to have Charlie take over since he had expressed a wish for "joining the Family Business" in the first film and is Scott's first choice to succeed him. However, Charlie admits to Scott that the perspective and responsibilities he has gained in the past two decades of growing up and starting his own family have caused him to see the drawbacks of becoming Santa, particularly that he would either have to have a long-distance relationship with his wife and kids and miss out on their lives (much like Scott has done and risks repeating the same mistakes that lead to Charlie being on the naughty list in the second film) or bring them to the North Pole and live in isolation away from other humans (which would result in them having No Social Skills like Cal and Sandra). Thus, he respectfully declines the offer.
  • Having been Santa for just short of three decades, Scott retiring from the role and returning to his civilian identity proves to be a bit of a struggle. He still acts like Santa on a few occasions, and instead of coming across as genuine and sincere, it appears weird and creepy to average folks who have no idea that the man before them was once Jolly Old St. Nick.
• Take That!:
  • Rapidly growing businesses such as Amazon are implied to be contributing to the fading Christmas spirit, with their online stores and fast deliveries prompting fewer children to ask Santa for presents and gradually giving him and the elves less to do with each passing year. When Simon takes over Scott's duties, he attempts to turn the North Pole into a similar operation, with disastrous results.
  • In episode two, Simon attempts to win back the investors for his eCommerce business by showing off his drone delivery system. The lead investor points out that the cons of drone delivery out-weigh the pros. Simon then attempts to prove him wrong… only for his delivery drone to malfunction and crash through the window of the board room.
  • In the fourth episode, Cal is excited about the Memorial Day festivities in Chicago... until Scott informs him the holiday exists to honor fallen American soldiers.
  Cal: (horrified) Why are we having a picnic?!
• Talking The Villain To Death: The antagonists of both seasons are ultimately defeated this way. Rather than physically fighting Simon or Magnus Antas, Scott and the other characters apply the lessons they've learned themselves throughout the series and convince them to see the error of their ways.
• Tech Bro: Simon is a failed tech startup entrepreneur. When he gets a look at the Magi Tech used at the North Pole he decides to reinvent the entire method of doing Christmas by adopting their abilities into his previous Amazon-esque deliver ideas.
• Thinking Up Portals: Here, Santa conjures vortexes that the sleigh can fly through to reach other parts of the world.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Scott is retroactively shown to have been this, before he grew up into the cynical Jerkass that he was introduced as in the first film. A flashback to his childhood reveals that he once wrote an infamously long list of presents that he wanted from Santa, not for himself, but for other friends in his neighbourhood who no longer believed. This act of altruism was the very reason that the Santa of the time chose Scott to be his successor, thus setting the events of the original film into motion years later.
• Villain Has a Point: Magnus Antas correctly notes that being Santa was something Scott wanted for Cal, something Scott acknowledges when he decides to let Cal live his own life.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: In Season 1, Noel says that he and Betty have been married for 900 years. In Season 2, it's revealed they didn't even meet until 1197, barely over 800 years ago, and they took 200 years to finally get married.

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