| "A Very Glee Christmas" | |
|---|---|
| Glee episode | |
 | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 10 |
| Directed by | Alfonso Gomez-Rejon |
| Written by | Ian Brennan |
| Featured music | "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year" "We Need a Little Christmas" "Merry Christmas Darling" "Baby, It's Cold Outside" "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" "Last Christmas" "Welcome Christmas" "My Favourite Things" |
| Production code | 2ARC10 |
| Original air date | December 7, 2010 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"A Very Glee Christmas" is the tenth episode of the second season of the American musical television series Glee, and the thirty-second episode overall. It was written by series co-creator Ian Brennan, directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and premiered on Fox on December 7, 2010. It served as the mid-season finale of season two—nearly two months elapsed before the next episode was aired—and featured Artie (Kevin McHale) trying to keep his girlfriend Brittany's (Heather Morris) belief in Santa Claus intact, and Sue (Jane Lynch) rigging the faculty Secret Santa gift exchange so she gets all the gifts, though she later becomes a Grinch when the gifts are repossessed.
The episode features seven songs, two of which come from the television special How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. The creators of Glee received permission from the estate of Dr. Seuss for the use of characters from How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, but were not allowed to use them in promotional photographs. Most of the songs featured in the episode had been released on Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album four weeks prior to airing, including "Baby, It's Cold Outside", which debuted at number fifty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 after the episode aired, despite not having been released separately as a single. "Welcome Christmas", the other song to chart after the episode aired, was the only song from the episode not on the album, but it was released as a single, and it debuted at number thirty-seven on the Canadian Hot 100.
The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, most of whom seemed to have judged it with different criteria from their normal because it was a holiday episode, while the music fared somewhat better, especially the rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" as a duet between Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss), which was extensively praised. Upon its initial airing, this episode was viewed by a hair under 11.07 million American viewers and received a 4.4/13 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The total viewership and ratings for this episode were down from the previous episode, "Special Education", which was watched the week before by over 11.68 million American viewers and received a 4.6/13 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic.