It is almost Christmas in Encino, California, and Patchy the Pirate, president of the SpongeBob SquarePants fan club, is deep in preparations for the holiday. With the help of his unenthusiastic assistant, Potty the Parrot, Patchy sets pictures of SpongeBob and Patrick on the mantelpiece, puts up his various SpongeBob-themed ornaments, and bakes Christmas cookies which Potty eats. Patchy also takes time to open a letter from a fan, who asks if SpongeBob likes Christmas as much as he does. Patchy remarks that there was once a time when Christmas in Bikini Bottom was unheard of, and decides to tell the tale.
"Christmas Who?"
"Just like a genie!"
Outside Sandy's treedome, SpongeBob is dressed in his karate gear and preparing to give Sandy a surprise sneak attack. Inside, Sandy is putting up Christmas lights, which SpongeBob mistakes for a fire and tries to put it out with sea water. After recovering from the drenching, Sandy is shocked to find out that SpongeBob has never heard of Christmas and tells him all about it.
Later at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob passes the story of Christmas on to Patrick, Squidward and Mr. Krabs. Everyone in Bikini Bottom, except Squidward, is excited at the idea of Santa Claus bearing gifts, and they all, except Squidward, put their Christmas letters into glass bottles, which are then shot up to the surface for Santa to receive.
Act 2
SpongeBob is sending the last of the letters to Santa and finds out Squidward still has not written his letter yet. SpongeBob and a few citizens try to get him to write a letter and be in the Christmas spirit but it fails. In the days leading up to Christmas, the people of Bikini Bottom heartily celebrate, and on Christmas Eve, they stand in front of the large decorated coral tree and sing, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa. Squidward, refusing to believe in Santa Claus, takes no part in any of the mirth.
The people continue to sing until morning, when they realize that Santa has not come. Everyone leaves in disappointment and they call SpongeBob out on his lying and Squidward comes out at last, laughing at SpongeBob's humiliation, and even takes a photo to commemorate the occasion.
The embarrassing snapshot
As SpongeBob sadly trudges away, he hands Squidward a present. Squidward, still skeptical, opens it to find a hand-carved driftwood clarinet. Squidward sees how SpongeBob has only been trying to spread joy and decides to make up for his rudeness. He dresses up as Santa and surprises SpongeBob, who thanks him for bringing Christmas to Bikini Bottom.
Squidward prepares to go back inside his house, but is approached by a little girl, asking him for a present. Out of desperation, Squidward gives the child a large wrench which pleases her greatly. A large crowd arrives asking for presents, and he ends up giving away everything he owns. Squidward realizes the lengths he's gone to in preserving SpongeBob's dream, after shooing away an excited SpongeBob, he discovers a note on his doorstep, which turns out to be a message from Santa thanking him for his help. He looks up in time to see the real Santa Claus soaring overhead in his sleigh, as he is shocked that he was wrong about his existence. At a loss at seeing Santa, he dismisses himself as being insane.
After finishing his story, Patchy has to deal with Potty perching on his head. However, it turns out the parrot merely lays him a gift of good will, which touches Patchy's heart. Patchy then proceeds to step under the mistletoe, inviting the ladies to come by for a smooch, only for Potty to start swooping after him. With Patchy preoccupied, the narrator rounds things off by wishing a "Good night, and Happy Holidays."
Squidward gave the first girl an antique of himself instead of a wrench.
While waiting in line for Santa (as Squidward), Mr. Krabs had a deleted line in this episode. He said "And don't forget about me pony!" This was cut for unknown reasons.
After Squidward gives the first girl the gift, SpongeBob says "I told ya he was real!" enthusiastically.
When they sing "This Christmas Feels Like The Very First Christmas To Me," instead of Plankton and Mr. Krabs singing together, two Bikini Bottomites sing together.
Music
( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music
◦SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song - Stephen Hillenburg, Derek Drymon, Eban Schletter [Intro] ‣Happy Christmas Medley - David Snell ["And now, direct from Encino..."] ‣Santa's on His Way - David Snell [Patchy wrapping presents] ‣Harp Ding - Nicolas Carr ["I sure am!"] ‣Santa's on His Way - David Snell [SpongeBob welcomes Santa] ‣Festive Medley - David Snell [fan mail] ‣Jingle Bells - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card] ‣Dramatic Cue (d) - Ronald Hanmer ["Fire!"] ‣Dramatic Cue (c) - Ronald Hanmer ["Don't worry, Sandy, I'm coming!"] ‣Jingle Bells (d) - Simon Benson [Sandy's Christmas tree] ‣Sugar Plum Fairy 59 - Richard A. Harvey [Sandy telling SpongeBob about Christmas] ‣Jingle Bells - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [at the Krusty Krab] ‣In Dulci Jubilo - Ib Glindemann [SpongeBob writes his letter] ‣Sleigh-Ride - David Snell [shooting bottles to the surface] ◦The Very First Christmas - Paul Tibbitt, Peter Straus ‣Christmas Morning - David Snell ["Is Squidward right? Can there be a Christmas under the sea?"/Patchy continues his story] ‣Hawaiian Link (a) - Richard Myhill [sending the last letter] ‣Dramatic Cue (d) - Ronald Hanmer [SpongeBob realizes Squidward hasn't written a letter yet] ‣ ? - Brad Carow [clarinet music] ‣Deck the Halls - Ib Glindemann [SpongeBob tries to write a letter for Squidward/"All you have to do is write a letter. What have you got to lose?"] ‣Jingle Bells - "Santa's coming tonight, tonight..." •Steel Sting - Jeremy Wakefield ["Uh... he should be here any minute."] •Steel Licks 3 - Jeremy Wakefield [everyone leaves] ‣Jingle Bells - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["Never trust a genie."] ‣Tomfoolery - David Snell [Squidward making fun of SpongeBob] ‣Drowsy Reef - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["You were right, Squidward."] ‣Yuletide Medley - David Snell [SpongeBob made Squidward a clarinet] ‣Sugar Plum Fairy 59 - Richard A. Harvey [Squidward pushes button on clarinet] ‣Yuletide Medley - David Snell ["This is the greatest gift I have ever gotten."] ‣Kamakani (b) - Kapono Beamer [SpongeBob taking decorations off his house] ‣ ? ["Huh? Hello? Who's there?"] ‣Joy to the World - Alec Gould [Squidward dressed as Santa Claus] ‣Vibe Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Up here, you dunce!"] ‣Sleigh Bells - David Arnold [sleigh bells] ‣Joy to the World - Alec Gould ["Yes, it is I, Santa Claus!"] ‣Christmas Party - David Snell [SpongeBob stammering] ‣ ? [little girl asks for a present/"Go ahead, Santa!"] ‣Deck the Halls - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward deciding what to give her] ‣The Nutcracker - Ballet Suite Op 71A - Russian Dance - Peter Tchaikovsky, George Wilson [Squidward giving away his stuff] ‣Hawaiian Link (a) - Richard Myhill [Squidward takes off the Santa costume] ‣Jingle Bells - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob at the door] ‣Vibe Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Huh? What's this?"] ‣Jingle Bell Swing - Ib Glindemann [letter from Santa] ‣ ? - Brad Carow [Squidward playing clarinet] ‣Happy Christmas Medley - David Snell [ending] ‣We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [closing credits]
At the beginning of this episode, in the opening theme song, the Captain has a wreath around him and instead of saying the usual line, "Are you ready kids," he says, "Ready for Christmas, kids?"
And, instead of him singing the opening, a female chorus sings the intro. Also, the logo card was changed to a Christmas title card.
Despite the introduction of Christmas to Bikini Bottom in this episode, the holiday or its related elements are mentioned in previous episodes:
"Jellyfishing:" Patrick says "Merry Christmas!" to Squidward.
This episode premiered in Canada on December 21, 2001, more than a year after it premiered in the United States, obviously to air the episode at a more appropriate time of year. A delay of a year or more between American and Canadian premieres had occurred with other holiday-themed episodes such as "Valentine's Day" and "Fools in April."
This is the 9th episode to have a punctuation.
This is the first holiday themed episode to have a punctuation.
This is the first double-length episode of the series.
However, it was one of the few double-length episode to have one animation director, rather than two. This also happens in "Party Pooper Pants."
This is the only double-length episode of season 2, unless the extended version of "Shanghaied" is counted.
"Patchy the Pirate Presents the SpongeBob SquarePants Christmas Special" is an alternate title for this episode, used by various cable providers and Nickelodeon's website.[1] Amazon shortens this to "The SpongeBob Christmas Special."[2]
This is the first Christmas-themed episode. The second was "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" Every primary character, in addition to Pearl, Karen, and Mrs. Puff, appears again in that episode.
This is the first episode to show Patrick with just one tooth; it can be seen when he says, "Just like a genie!" Patrick's single tooth would later appear in more episodes and would be heavily used in season 5.
On the Complete 2nd Season DVD, Patchy's line at the beginning of the second half of the episode, "It's about time you got back! Now I can finish me story!" is cut since there is no break on the DVD.
The fan letter's envelope lists its sender as "Mike Miller," but this can only be seen for a split-second.
Patrick's line, "Just like a genie!" has become an internet meme.
SpongeBob's line, "And everyone pretends to love the fruitcake" and Plankton's disposal of the fruitcake given to him by Mr. Krabs reference the clichéd unpopularity of fruitcake is in the real world.
During the song "The Very First Christmas," Mr. Krabs' falsetto voice was done by Dee Bradley Baker, because Clancy Brown could not hit the high notes.
In the Brazilian dubbing of this episode, the line "I hope [Santa] can read Portuguese" was changed to "I hope he can understand my calligraphy," because Portuguese is already Brazil's official language.
The music on the phonograph that Squidward has playing while he pretends to play with his clarinet is the same song he plays in "Bubblestand."
When Squidward feels guilty for bullying SpongeBob, he says "I feel like a..." and a picture of a donkey appears. This is a subliminal message that Squidward feels like a "jack-ass." A similar joke is made in "Fools in April."
Patchy pretends that SpongeBob and Patrick go to Christmas Island, a real territory of Australia.
In the Polish dub, this episode's title is "Jakie święta?," which translates to "What Christmas?"
In the Croatian dub, this episode's title is "Božić, što je to?," which translates to "Christmas, what is that?"
This is the first time that the APM track "Drowsy Reef" plays.
Sandy's wintertime activities are not set in stone, because in this episode, she is clearly present in Bikini Bottom and wide awake during regular hours. However, in "Bubble Buddy," she migrates for the winter. Furthermore, the episodes "Pre-Hibernation Week" and "Survival of the Idiots" center around Sandy preparing to hibernate and SpongeBob and Patrick breaking and entering into her house while she hibernates respectively.
In the game SpongeBob's Truth or Square, a reference to this episode appears in level 4, where Squidward is seen dressed as Santa.
Squidward Santa
This episode premiered in Central & Eastern Europe 19 years after it originally aired in the United States, on December 14, 2019.
In this episode, Potty is portrayed more realistically to an actual parrot, by simply mimicking words and saying short phrases. In later episodes, Potty is more sentient.
Patchy says "That SpongeBob makes me as jolly as a Roger," a reference to the pirate flag called the Jolly Roger.
Errors
As SpongeBob runs to Sandy's treedome to show off his new karate move, his water helmet is floating and is separated from his head for one frame.File:ChristmasWho Error.jpg
SpongeBob's water helmet floating.
Despite Squidward being unenthusiastic about Christmas, he is heard singing along to the final line of "The Very First Christmas," which was meant to be joyous. The camera also cuts to him at this time and he is not even physically singing.
Squidward sees Santa on his sleigh at the end, but it should be impossible for Santa to be able to breathe underwater.
Towards the end of the sequence where Sandy tells SpongeBob about Christmas, bubbles are shown when she moves, even though they are both in the air-filled treedome.
A few seconds after Patrick says "Like a genie," his eyebrows turn red for a split second as he blinks.
When SpongeBob gives Patrick his second sheet of paper, his black shoes are transparent.
Crossed-eyed girl
The girl who asked for front teeth is crossed-eyed in one scene.
During the song, when SpongeBob and Patrick are showing Squidward the decorations they have put on his house, SpongeBob's house next-door is missing.
When Mr. Krabs gives Plankton the fruitcake, it is sunset in the evening. However, when the fruitcake lands in the trash, it is instantly night.
When Squidward as Santa talks to SpongeBob, his eyelids briefly change color for a split second to a lighter teal.
When SpongeBob says "Where's your reindeer, and your flying machine?," Squidward has two legs instead of four.
SpongeBob's tie is invisible in the sequence leading up to the picture being taken, and in the physical picture.
The photograph that Squidward took when SpongeBob was crying has multiple errors:
When Squidward holds the photo the background around it is sand instead of snow.
In the photo, the background is not the winter sky or snow; it is the typical sky that is seen in the other episodes, even though the coral tree is still visible.
Before SpongeBob gives Patrick his paper to write to Santa Claus, numbers appear on the bottom of the screen for a split second.
When the fish sing "Santa's coming tonight, tonight," one of the left fish's pants seems to disappear and reappear.
