Starring Roles[]
Featuring Roles[]
- Petunia
- Handy
- Lammy
- Cro-Marmot
- Lifty
- Shifty
- Pop
- The Mole
- Truffles
- Cranky
- Whistle
- Honey
- Fatty (voice only)
- Toothy
- Robo Star
- Guddles
- Toad
Plot[]
The episode begins with a direct title reading “Happy Tree Friends Christmas Special” upon a snowy night sky – a unique opening, as the episode is devoid of the infamous opening sequence. We then fade to Lumpy hastily driving the Family Sedan with Petunia and Cub through a snow covered street. They are late for Cuddles and Giggles' Christmas pageant at Happy Tree Elementary School. After crashing into a pile of snow at the front of Happy Tree Elementary School (park at the front), Lumpy and Petunia stumble through a full audience to find their seats; everyone looks on stage at the pageant that has already begun. Lumpy converses with some of the other men at the pageant, expressing his unhappiness of attending. Lumpy and Petunia sit down just in time to see Handy introduce the second grade. The children do a presentation of different Santa Clauses from around the world – including Lammy as Hotei Oshō. Cro-Marmot introduces Giggles. She then steals the show as Tawanga, the Santa Claus of the South Seas. Giggles’ dance causes awe throughout the crowd, as she performs a dangerous dance with fire performing tricks such as throwing it around herself – Giggles also wears see-through clothing, effectively ‘revealing' Giggles completely, although this is presumably unintended to be seen as nudity. Cut to Handy introducing the fourth grade singing a ‘melody', or medley of Christmas carols. As they all sing Jingle Bells, Cuddles can be heard singing in a much louder and unpleasant voice to the lyrics of a rude parody, “Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg...” Cuddles is yanked from the performance. The pageant continues, as a bored Lumpy wonders aloud how long the pageant will last.
Afterwards, at home, Petunia writes a letter for the Christmas cards, as Lumpy gets out Christmas decorations, and Cuddles and Giggles write their Christmas wish lists. In the letter, Petunia describes family life. As she reads the letter, Petunia's narration describes her writing, the camera pans around to the different characters as she mentions their names and stories. Petunia soon stops writing, due to Lumpy's grumpy demeanor. Cuddles and Giggles show Petunia their wish lists; Petunia is upset when Giggles once again asks for a pony for Christmas (6 times on the list), but Giggles remains optimistic of her present request. Cuddles asks for a tattoo, causing a minor argument amongst Lumpy, Petunia and Cuddles. They are interrupted by a phone call; Lumpy answers to a rude Lifty who refuses to speak with him, requesting Petunia; a grumbling Lumpy hands the phone over to Petunia and the two brothers discuss their plans Christmas Eve – the brothers also find time to criticize Petunia's choice in friend. Cut to Lumpy, who is outside adding the finishing touches to the Christmas lights on the roof, while the three children watch from the sidewalk. After Lumpy falls from the roof, he calls out to Petunia plug in the lights. Only a few of the lights actually light up, and Petunia admires his handy work, while the kids are less than impressed. Pop is also outside, and ready to plug in his lights for the first time, he calls out to Lumpy and tells him to admire his superiority. As he plugs the lights in, Pop's entire house lights up, including a talking Santa Claus on the roof. The lights illuminate everyone's face and much to Lumpy's dismay; the kids are very impressed at Pop's display of lights, yet Lumpy still manages to criticize Pop's work.
At breakfast the next morning, Petunia tells the kids to grab their money so they can go Christmas shopping at the Happy Tree Mall. As the excited kids run off to get their money, Lumpy asks Petunia where she has been keeping the Christmas savings. She makes him turn around and she pulls a jar out of her tail. It is a very large jar full of money, impressing Lumpy. Later at the mall, Petunia, Giggles and Cub look at gifts together; Cuddles is off by himself, and comes across The Happy Sailor Tattoo Parlor. In the window, he sees a tattoo of a heart with the word “friend” written across it. He daydreams that Petunia will have a positive reaction to him getting a tattoo, so he runs inside the parlor, lies to the gullible tattoo artist about his age, and hops into the chair. Meanwhile, at the Happy Tree Nuclear Power Plant, Truffles, the plant's owner and rightful boss, announces over the loudspeaker that there will not be any Christmas bonuses this year for unskilled workers; this includes Lumpy. Lumpy sighs as he remembers they still have the big jar full of money for Christmas presents. Back at the mall, Petunia hears Cuddles' yells of pain coming from inside the tattoo parlor and she quickly runs inside to see Cuddles with the heart tattoo halfway finished on his arm. She quickly pulls him out of the chair and takes him to the Dermatology Clinic. The tattoo removal is expensive and requires a full cash payment up front. Petunia decides to use all the Christmas money for Cuddles' tattoo removal; although unhappy, she assumes Lumpy's Christmas Bonus will cover future costs. Cuddles then undergoes a “James Bond” operation. Back at home, Giggles tells Lumpy what has happened and Lumpy freaks out. Petunia tells him to calm down, and that they will just have to stretch his Christmas bonus further for the year. Lumpy fakes relief when Petunia mentions his bonus; he tells everyone that this will be the best Christmas ever and steps outside for a walk, choosing to conceal the truth. Once outside he looks up at his poorly decorated house and then at Pop's masterpiece. A depressed Lumpy hangs his head in despair on the sidewalk.
That night in bed, Petunia senses something is amiss with Lumpy and asks if there is something wrong. Lumpy almost tells her the truth about his Christmas bonus, but quickly backpedals and instead offers to do the Christmas shopping so she doesn't have to. Petunia agrees and is content with Lumpy's answer; the two sleep. The next day Lumpy does the Christmas shopping alone at Circus of Values. He purchases pantyhose for Petunia, pads of paper for Cuddles and a squeaky chew toy for Cub – Giggles' present isn't revealed. While purchasing such dismal presents, Lumpy uses empty optimism to assure his own self. On his way out the door with his bag of presents, Lumpy accidentally crashes into Pop and Cranky, while he carries an armful of fancily wrapped packages. All the presents are spilled onto the ground, and as Lumpy picks the few he purchased and sees how many Pop bought, Pop attempts to sort the presents, unintentionally gloating his wealth. At Toad's Tavern, Lumpy drinks a beer alone, when a cheerful Robo Star walks in wearing a Santa Claus suit. Robo Star explains that he is in a good mood because he has extra money from working a part time job acting as Santa Claus at the mall. Lumpy suddenly has an idea. Cut to the personnel office in the mall, as Lumpy fills out an application and is interviewed to be a mall Santa. After the finishes reviewing Lumpy's application, as well as interviewing him, the personnel director welcomes Lumpy aboard and sends him to mall Santa training. A montage of Lumpy enduring Santa training ensues – this includes a Hypnotist as the teacher.
Lumpy finally makes it home late at night and a worried Petunia wants to know where he has been. Lumpy assures the insignificance of his tardiness and heads upstairs, but Petunia tells him they have guests, Lifty and Shifty. As Lumpy talks to Lifty and Shifty, they comment on the fact that the HTFs don't have a Christmas tree up yet. Lumpy lies and tells them he was about to leave, and he angrily hurries out the door. In the car, Lumpy drives past several Christmas tree lots; gradually the trees become cheaper from the earlier expensive ones. Eventually he stops at a private Christmas Tree Farm and uses a chain saw to steal a nice Christmas tree for the family. Lumpy is soon met with retaliation, the farm owner fires his gun upon Lumpy, and has two hounds pursue. However, Lumpy escapes relatively easily. Back at home, Lumpy stands up the tree, and everyone is impressed except for Lifty and Shifty. On Christmas Eve at the mall, Lumpy works as Santa Claus, while children wait in line to sit on his lap, one being a very greedy child. From a distance, Cuddles, Toothy and Guddles watch the children line-up to sit on Santa's lap, they comment on the gullibility of the children. Toothy dares Cuddles to yank off Santa's beard and Cuddles agrees. Cuddles jumps in line and finally gets his turn on Santa's lap. Not knowing that Santa is really Lumpy, Cuddles yanks off his beard. Cuddles is shocked at what he uncovers, and an angry Lumpy escorts Cuddles inside Santa's workshop to speak with him in private, leaving a GTF to cover for him. Lumpy explains the situation to Cuddles, who understands and feels bad for yanking off Lumpy's beard.
At the end of Lumpy's shift, Cuddles goes with Lumpy as he picks up his check. Lumpy is surprised to learn that he has only made 13 dollars. When he questions the cashier, she explains the majority of his check went to pay for the Santa suit, social security, etc. While a depressed Lumpy sits down to figure out what to do with the 13 dollars, an excited Robo Star tells Lumpy that he is going to the Happy Tree Downs to place a bet with his earnings. He invites Lumpy to come along with him, ensuring a win on the dog Whirlwind, Lumpy is reluctant but Cuddles convinces him to go, citing that this might be their only chance to save the HTF Christmas.
Back at the home everyone including Lifty, Shifty and The Mole, wait for Lumpy and Cuddles to come home while watching Aussie Outback Friends. Cut to the dog track, where Robo Star insists Lumpy bet on Whirlwind. After seeing what Whirlwind looks like, Lumpy is reluctant to bet on him. Just then an announcement plays over the P.A. system, a dog named Whistle will be replacing Sir Galahad in the fourth race. Lumpy senses that the announcement is an omen, and decides to bet on him even though Cuddles says not to, and despite the fact that the odds are 99 to 1. Lumpy puts down all 13 dollars on Whistle. Meanwhile, at home, Lifty and Shifty talk bad about Lumpy, while everyone waits for him and Cuddles. Giggles then explains to Lifty how her bad mouthing will damage herself, confusing Lifty. Back at the track, Lumpy and Cuddles anxiously await the running of the fourth race. As the race begins Lumpy and Cuddles cheer on Whistle, but Whirlwind, Robo Star's pick, is out to an early lead with Whistle bringing up the rear. Lumpy and Cuddles quickly realize their chances at winning any money are dashed, as Whistle doesn't even finish the race.
Cut to Lumpy and Cuddles, out in the parking lot of the dog track, looking for discarded betting slips hoping to find that someone has thrown away a winner. Robo Star drives by in a convertible with a girl rabbit in the passenger seat, and gloats to Cuddles and Lumpy about his pick for the race: Whirlwind. A dejected Cuddles and Lumpy head back to their car, when off in the distance they see a racing dog owner yelling and chasing off Whistle for losing once again. Whistle jumps up into Lumpy's arms. Cuddles asks Lumpy if they can keep the dog. Lumpy, reluctant at first, quickly warms up to the dog and decides to take him home. Cut back to the home, where everyone still awaits Cuddles and Lumpy's return. Suddenly, a sad looking Lumpy enters in and starts to confess to everyone about the fact that he didn't receive his Christmas Bonus, and apologizes for the lack of presents; when Cuddles interrupts, Whistle runs into the room barking. Everyone ignores Lumpy and falls in love with the dog, and Lumpy realizes that in the end he has done a good job providing gifts at Christmas for the HTFs. In then roll the credits from a photo of the happy HTFs.