Cultural references[]

• The episode title is a reference to the song by Bing Crosby, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and to the song by Blink-182, "I Won't Be Home for Christmas".
• The opening sequence notes the date difference between a Catholic and an Orthodox Christmas.
• El Barto's name is graffiti-tagged on a wall during the opening sequence.
• In the last bit of the couch gag, there is an "obligatory" Frozen reference with Lisa as Elsa, Bart as Kristoff, Marge as Anna, Maggie as one of the trolls, Santa's Little Helper as Sven and Homer as Olaf.
• The opening scene with children ice skating references the opening scene to [[wikipedia:A_Charlie_Brown_Christmas|A Charlie Brown Christmas]. Additionally, the instrumental rendition of "O Tannenbaum" used in the scene is very similar though not identical to the version used elsewhere in "A Charlie Brown Christmas".
• Comic Book Guy and Kumiko watch together a Christmas special that parodies Star Wars. Specifically, the special, "Cosmic Wars Christmas Special", as well as CBG and Kumiko's outrage at it, were a reference to the Star Wars Holiday Special as well as its infamous negative reception upon airing.
• A short parody of A Christmas Carol occurs when Homer addresses Montgomery Burns as Mr. Scrooge. Shortly after, Waylon Smithers reminds Mr. Burns of his appointment with the three ghosts. After getting into an argument with his wife, Homer refers to Patty as Marge's apparition from the future.
• A clip of The Hon. Henry X. Harper from the 1947 Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street is playing on the television at Moe's Tavern .
• Homer and Moe sing Silent Night together.
• Homer notes to Marge that Isaac Newton was born on Christmas.
• When Homer is kicked out of the house, Marge stamps a Grinch sticker over Homer's picture, which symbolizes his selfishness.
• Moe sings Good King Wenceslas on a karaoke machine.
• Stevie Wonder's Someday at Christmas song plays in the background while Homer strolls around the empty streets of Springfield.
• Skeletons of Lanny and Wayne from the Prep & Landing specials are shown between the top and bottom floors, in reference to Disney seemingly abandoning the franchise after 2011. (The characters would later reappear alive and well in the short Once Upon a Studio, and and a new Prep & Landing special was announced for a 2025 release on Disney+ shortly after.)
• At the movie theater a movie called "A beautiful Game ", which is a parody of a A Beautiful Mind, and a movie title "Grounded, which is a parody of Planes movie.
• The footage with Homer and the movie booth was reused in the 2021 Disney+ Christmas Advert.
• In Comic Book Guy's house there are Marvel comic book characters Thing and a purple version of Hulk bookends.
• Moe says "Hey. It's the night before Christmas. Stop stirring", a similar line from Twas The Night Before Christmas to a rat in his tavern.
• The opening is very similar to the opening to White Christmas Blues. However, there are some differences.
  • The Rich Texan is riding a Cadillac driven by five bulls instead of Barney riding Santa's sleigh driven by four reindeer and Santa's Little Helper during the title screen.
  • Jimbo and Kearney are cut out and it goes straight to Bart writing "Reindeer meat does not taste like chicken" instead of "I will not call my teacher "Prancer" and "Vixen.""
  • The sign in the nuclear power plant now says "30 days until Greek orthodox Christmas" instead of "93 days till March 28, actual birth of Christ."
  • When Maggie pops out of the box, Gerald still has the "defective" sign on his head and Maggie gives him a present.
  • Lisa now gets a huge pile of snow fall on her instead of a small dropful.
  • Moe now has a snow girlfriend, and Patty and Selma are now versing each other in ice hockey. Annie Dubinsky and Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky are also poltergiests in the Chinese restaurant.
  • Snow Monster is now added to Marge and Maggie's snow journey. Mr. Burns (as the white queen) ends up chasing the Crazy Cat Lady and Horatio McCallister instead. Marge now whips twice instead of once.

Trivia[]

• Bart's hair has seven spikes as an eight year old instead of nine. The last time he was shown as an eight year old was in "And Maggie Makes Three" and he had nine spikes.
• This is the last episode to air in 2014.
• Lisa's line of i'm afraid we've awakened a needy giant is a alteration of the line "I'm afraid we've awakened a sleeping giant", a shorterend version of a quote by Imperial Japanese general Isoroku Yamamoto after the Pearl Harbor bombings of WWII.
• Gil mentiones that this are his 17th Christmas. He was introduced in "Realty Bites" which takes place 17 years before this episode.
• The "O" on the Moe's Tavern sign is once again replaced with a Christmas wreath, as in "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
• The Christmas cookies sitting on the table when Homer walks in are the same as the early design of The Simpsons.

Goofs[]

• The Grumple's head is yellow in the Christmas card.
• At the end of the episode where Bart race downstairs to open his present, Lisa is seen wearing her slippers but in the next scene, she is barefoot.

Continually[]

• Marge's gingerbread house recalls a gag from "Cape Feare" when Sideshow Bob continuously stepped on rakes.
• Unibrow baby has a stamp that says “DEFECT” on his forehead from a previous christmas intro where Maggie stamps this on his head.