“Friends” has remained relevant for nearly two decades and has been a huge part of entertainment, comfort, and pop culture for multiple generations. As we enter the holiday season, here are all of the “Friends” Christmas episodes summarized and ranked.
#9- Season 9, Episode 10: “The One with the Christmas in Tulsa”
Ranking last is the last “Friends” Christmas episode. Though it is at the bottom of my list, this episode is still entertaining and sentimental in its own way. The episode opens with the whole gang in Monica’s apartment as Chandler says goodbye before he leaves for Tulsa where he must spend Christmas working. Everyone is of course disappointed by this, especially Monica.When Chandler arrives at work, his colleagues express great disappointment about not being able to spend Christmas with their families. This preludes a series of flashbacks to past “Friends” Christmas episodes as Chandler reminisces on the past seven Christmases. He then lets all of his colleagues go home to be with their families, and only he and Wendy remain. Wendy makes passes at Chandler which he dodges and expresses to her that he is happily married. This then leads into a series of flashbacks from past episodes that highlight the development of Chandler and Monica’s relationship. Personally, I love episodes of “Friends” that incorporate flashbacks, but this episode was primarily made up of flashbacks from past Christmas episodes, which makes it unfair to rank it higher than the original episodes it shares again.
#8- Season 8, Episode 10: “The One with Ross’ Step Forward”
In this episode, we see Ross struggle when Mona suggests that they send out a holiday card together. He tells her that he “doesn’t think we’re there yet,” then she follows up with, “so where are we then?” Ross contemplates what gesture would be best to show Mona he cares about her without having to have the dreaded conversation. Meanwhile, Chandler and Monica try to avoid Chandler’s obnoxious boss and Rachel struggles with feeling attracted to every man she sees because of her pregnancy hormones. This episode is still a lot of fun, but there isn’t anything super memorable or exciting about it compared to other episodes.
#7- Season 5, Episode 10: “The One with the Inappropriate Sister”
The first scene of this episode opens in Chandler and Joey’s apartment, where Ross is also living at the time. In this episode we see the three men struggle with living together and conflict emerges around their situation. Meanwhile, Phoebe volunteers with the salvation army, wanting to give money back to the poor, and Rachel discovers that the guy she is seeing, Danny, has an oddly close relationship to his sisters. The various dynamics that shine through in this episode are super entertaining.
#6- Season 4, Episode 10: “The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie”
Ross faces a dilemma in this episode. He meets two women, one who lives closer to the city who he doesn’t like as much, and one who lives four hours away in Poughkeepsie who he really likes. Throughout the episode, Ross debates who he should choose to spend more time with. Meanwhile, Phoebe tries to write a holiday song that incorporates everyone’s names, but she struggles to make it rhyme. Monica struggles to gain respect at her new job and she “fake hires” Joey so that she can “fake fire” him in front of everyone, and Chandler sets Rachel up on an awful date. My favorite part of this episode is definitely Phoebe’s song. The episode opens with her working on it, and by the end she still doesn’t have the rhyme figured out, but she still sings it with confidence in her typical Phoebe fashion.
#5- Season 7, Episode 9: “The One with all the Candy”
Season seven has two back-to-back Christmas episodes for fans to enjoy. In this first one, Monica decides to make special holiday candies to connect with her neighbors. They end up being way more popular than she can handle and she is seen frantically making candies and yelling at the front door throughout the episode. Meanwhile, Rachel and her assistant Tag, who are secretly dating, get into trouble at work after they play a silly and inappropriate joke that falls into the hands of their boss. They get sent to human resources and have to explain themselves which is super awkward and hilarious.
#4- Season 3, Episode 10: “The One where Rachel Quits”
This episode opens up in the coffee house when Rachel learns from Gunter that she has to repeat her waitress training after two years of working there. This leads her to realize that she doesn’t want to work at the coffee house anymore and she quits. When Phoebe finds out that Joey got a job at a Christmas tree farm, she is appalled and declares that she is against innocent trees being torn down. Joey manages to convince her that by cutting the trees down, they get to fulfill their Christmas destinies. Phoebe decides to go to the tree farm, where she is horrified to find out that the old Christmas trees get put into the chipper. At the end of the episode, to cheer Phoebe up, Monica buys a ton of old Christmas trees and fills the apartment with them. The ending of this Christmas episode is possibly my favorite out of all of them. There is something so special about the image of the tree filled apartment and Phoebe’s bright joyful eyes that makes me feel the holiday spirit.
#3- Season 6, Episode 10: “The One with the Routine”
This may be the funniest Christmas episode overall. Joey is obsessed with his dancer roommate, Janine, who is invited to be a guest on Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve. When Ross and Monica hear about this, they completely freak out because it’s a show they’ve been obsessed with since they were young, so Janine invites them to come along too. Once they’re on set, Ross and Monica continuously embarrass themselves with their terrible dance moves and annoying persistence. Toward the end of the shoot, they decide to do “the routine,” a dance combination they did in middle school and have both been secretly practicing in their adult lives.
#2- Season 2, Episode 9: “The One with Phoebe’s Dad”
This was the very first “Friends” Christmas episode, and it will always have a special place in my heart. This one was honestly hard to beat. Phoebe finds out that her grandma lied her entire life about who her father was which puts her on a journey to find her real father. Meanwhile, Monica decides that instead of giving cash Christmas tips, she will tip all of the staff in her building with cookies. Ross expresses that this is a terrible idea and though it seems to play out this way at first, we find out at the end of the episode that the cookies were very much appreciated. Phoebe brings Chandler and Joey with her to her dad’s house, but she ultimately decides not to go in. This is a touching moment between Joey, Chandler, and Phoebe, where the guys let Phoebe know that they are proud of her and support whatever she chooses. Monica and Rachel throw a Christmas party, but their radiator breaks making it insanely hot in the apartment. With all the chaos of meeting Phoebe’s dad, Joey and Chandler don’t have time to get Christmas presents for everyone, so they get all of their gifts at a gas station. This episode has a perfect balance of hilarious banter and ironic situations and beautiful, touching moments that often bring tears to my eyes.
#1- Season 7, Episode 10: “The One with the Holiday Armadillo”
Finally, we have the episode that takes the cake for me. First of all, the title of his episode is undoubtedly my favorite. It makes no sense but somehow this title has grown to represent the holiday season for me. Ross finds out that he has Ben for the holidays and decides to teach him about Hanukkah. When Ben finds out that Santa won’t be coming, however, he becomes very sad and thinks that he was naughty, which leads Ross to declare that Santa will be coming. Two days before Christmas, he rushes to the costume shop in search of a Santa suit. Of course, there are no more Santa suits and Ross comes home with a huge, ridiculous, armadillo costume. He then convinces Ben that he is the “holiday armadillo,” a representative of Santa himself. Ben seems to be fine with this idea, until Chandler bursts through the door in a Santa costume, right as Ross begins the story of Hanukkah. After a quick powwow in the kitchen, Chandler agrees to leave so that Ross can share Hanukkah with Ben. When Ben sees Santa leaving, however, he protests and questions why the armadillo can’t leave. As a solution, Chandler agrees to stay, but only if Ben will listen to the story of Hanukkah from the Holiday Armadillo. Ross finally gets to tell the story, until Joey storms in dressed as Superman.
There is something so special about “Friends” holiday episodes that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Each episode encompasses the holiday spirit without being overwhelmingly focused on Chritsmas time and Christmas cheer. In each episode, we get to laugh at hilarious jokes and side comments, share intimate moments with the characters, and are reminded of the true meaning of the holiday season.