Among the 208 episodes of the hit CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, were several great holiday episodes. Whether it was Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, or Christmas, they always managed to make the most of it every time. And while Christmas didn't bring with it any mystery women or epic slaps, it did have plenty of its own joyous events.
Throughout these episodes, the gang grows closer in so many different ways. Whether it's Ted and Lily making up after her time in San Francisco, Marshall and Robin finding ways to cope with homesickness, multiple pregnancy scares, and even a long-awaited proposal, this holiday season made for some wonderfully emotional moments, and IMDb ratings have made it easy to determine the best among all of them.
"The Over-Correction" (Episode 8x10) - 7.9
In the first of a three-episode stretch taking place around Christmas, Robin (Cobie Smulders) finds herself consumed by jealousy over Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Patrice's relationship. So much so, that she decides to break into Barney's place to find his playbook and show Patrice (Ellen D. Williams) what kind of man he really is. Meanwhile, Ted (Josh Radnor) is upset that no one returns his things that they borrow, and Marshall (Jason Segel) & Lily (Alyson Hannigan) find out some disturbing news about their parents.
Not only is this the beginning of a three-episode Christmas-centered arc, it is also the continuation of the multi-episode storyline about Robin's feelings for Barney. Marshall's mom (Suzie Plakson) comes to visit and reveals to Lily that after her husband died, she was having a hard time moving on, but now she's ready to get back out there and meet other men. But little did Lily know that she would find Mickey (Chris Elliott), Lily's dad, who is living with them to help take care of baby Marvin. This episode feels a bit unfinished at the end, and that is most likely due to the hanging storylines that aren't resolved until later on.
"Little Minnesota" (Episode 4x11) - 8.0
Ted's sister Heather (Erin Cahill) is coming to town for Christmas. When she tells him she's moving to New York, Ted has his doubts, as he still thinks of her as a screw-up. Meanwhile, Robin is feeling homesick around the holidays, so Marshall decides to take her to a Minnesota-themed bar, because they're apparently very similar to Canadians.
We see Marshall in his element here, drinking with fellow Minnesotans, complaining about the 1999 NFC Championship game (DAMN!), and even bashing on their neighbors to the north, Canada, but it becomes clear that Marshall feels like Robin is starting to encroach on his space. However, in the end, he finds a Canadian bar for her, and we even get to hear "Let's Go To The Mall" done karaoke style.
"How Lily Stole Christmas" (Episode 2x11) - 8.0
In the very first Christmas episode of How I Met Your Mother, Lily and Ted get into a fight after she hears an old answering machine message that Ted left for Marshall, calling her a really bad name. To retaliate, Lily packs up all their Christmas decorations and takes them to her place, refusing to have Christmas with Ted, until he apologizes. Meanwhile, Barney gets sick, and Robin has to take care of him.
This is a great episode that acts as a turning point for Ted and Lily's friendship. It takes place shortly after Marshall and Lily get back together after their break-up when Lily left for San Francisco. And while Marshall may have forgiven Lily for what she did, Ted has been holding on to it, and Lily can't seem to grasp how her actions affected him as well. We got some great references to A Christmas Story with the substituting of swear words for normal words, and it was hilarious, especially the main one... "grinch." We never actually know what word he's saying, but you can surely use your imagination for that.
"False Positive" (Episode 6x12) - 8.1
After Marshall and Lily get a positive pregnancy test, everyone in the group begins to re-evaluate their life choices. Robin struggles with where she wants her career to go, Barney struggles with whether to be charitable or not after receiving a large bonus check, and even Marshall and Lily are freaking out about whether they're ready to be parents or not. And in the end, it's Ted who must be the voice of reason.
Robin is afraid to move forward in her career because her next step isn't exactly what she imagined it would be. So instead, she does a complete turn-around and takes a job that has nothing to do with her dream. Marshall and Lily act so put together in this episode, but we learn that they are anything but that. Their reactions are completely understandable, and as we see later on in the series, they are both amazing parents. Ted just wants to enjoy a Christmas movie with his Christmas-themed movie snack (an entire gingerbread house), but in the end, he is the one who has to pull everybody back to normalcy as they are all a bit off the rails.
"The Final Page - Part One" (Episode 8x11) - 8.4
As Ted prepares for his new skyscraper to open, he is still seeking the approval of the one college professor (Peter Gallagher) who said he'd never be an architect. Meanwhile, Barney gets jinxed and can't speak, and Marshall & Lily run into an old college classmate who gives them the creeps.
Continuing the three-episode stretch of Christmas-centered episodes, starting with "The Over-Correction," we learn about some of the group's "pit people," people that, if given the chance, they'd throw into a pit, like in The Silence of the Lambs. Ted and Robin must learn to let go of those people and move forward. Ted realizes he doesn't need his professor's approval, because he's already a successful architect, and Robin finds a way to apologize to Patrice and make amends, seemingly moving on from Barney. On the flip side, however, Marshall & Lily believe they are the pit people for a fellow college student named Daryl (Seth Green), who they played hacky sack with once. He is a bit weird and intense, but in the end, he just wanted to do something nice for them, and they ruined that for themselves.
"Symphony Of Illumination" (Episode 7x12) - 8.7
This is a great episode, as it combines some hilarious moments with some heartbreaking ones. Marshall, growing up in the suburbs of Minnesota, dreams of having that perfect life, where people are kind and trustworthy, but he finds out real quick that that's not the world he's living in.
This episode picks up directly after the end of the Thanksgiving episode from season seven, "The Rebound Girl," where Robin first tells Barney that she might be pregnant. Throughout the episode, Robin tells her kids the story of how she met their father (Barney), set up in the same way we've seen with Ted - two kids on a couch, and the parent telling the story off-screen. But this one has a heartbreaking end as we learn Robin can't have kids, and the ones she's telling this story to aren't real. The moment with Robin on the park bench in the snow is so emotionally devastating, because it shows that maybe one day she would've wanted that family that she has always railed against so hard.
"The Final Page - Part Two" (Episode 8x12) - 9.4
In the last of this three-episode stretch of Christmas-centered episodes, Ted's new GNB building is finally opening, and he has to continue to keep Barney's secret about proposing to Patrice. Lily and Marshall are finally getting a night away as Lily's dad watches the baby, but the night falls apart as Ted can't keep the secret any longer.
This is such a fantastic episode that caps off the ongoing saga of Robin's feelings for Barney. In the end, it all pays off as we get an extremely emotional scene with Robin and Barney on top of the World Wide News building, where he reveals the final play from the playbook, in which he proposes to her. So much of what we'd seen over the last several episodes had been part of this plan - dating Patrice, Robin's jealousy, Ted spilling the beans about the proposal, all of it. And from this, we head into the back half of the season where they are planning the wedding, which takes place throughout all of season nine, and inevitably leads Ted to the mother of his children.