Here are the best Christmas-themed episodes of ‘Glee’

Glee is perhaps one of the most commonly known shows to have at least one episode centered around each of the known holidays. However, unlike most other shows, Glee incorporated musical numbers into their seasonal celebrations. Four holiday episodes in total means that the groundbreaking Fox show covered a lot of joyous Christmas songs.

For your viewing and auditory pleasure, we’ve compiled a list of the four Christmas episodes throughout Glee’s six-season run along with the best musical number from each episode. Enjoy!

“A Very Glee Christmas” (Season 2, Episode 10)

The first-ever Christmas episode brought all of the chummy goodness, with a Santa-believing Brittany, Coach Sue tampering with secret Santa gifts, and a budding romance between Kurt and Blaine followed by the snow-covered breakup of Rachel and Finn.

There were eight songs in total featured in the episode, but nothing beats the controversial “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and the always amazing “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”

“Extraordinary Merry Christmas” (Season 3, Episode 9)

In this episode, the New Directions double-book themselves and struggle to find an outcome while Artie directs a special for the retirement home that turns some numbers black and white.

Nine songs in total were featured in this episode, but none is more joyful than “Christmas Wrapping.” Other iconic Christmas songs that appear are a cover of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

“Glee, Actually” (Season 4, Episode 10)

Glee pays tribute to Love, Actually in this episode as it tackles different intertwining storylines while Artie suffers a head injury that makes him imagine what life would be like without a wheelchair.

This is the shortest musical episode with only six songs, the most enjoyable of which is “Jingle Bell Rock.” Other notable songs include “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Feliz Navidad.”

“Previously Unaired Christmas” (Season 5, Episode 8)

This episode did not originally air on Fox until fan demand forced the network to do so. It follows the New York group working as Santa’s Elves while the Lima students offer to be in the Nativity display at school.

Again with only six musical numbers, this was the last Christmas-centric episode of Glee to air and included the songs “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

Glee: The Christmas Album Vol. 1, 2, and 3 are available on all streaming services and Glee seasons one through six are now streaming on Disney Plus in Australia.