"'Twas the Fight Before Christmas" is the thirty-second episode of the seventh season, the three-hundred-twenty-seventh episode, and the sixteenth full-length episode of The Loud House.
Lincoln recruits his cousins to help end the years-long feud between Dad and Uncle Lance so they can finally celebrate Christmas together.
Synopsis[]
Act I[]
The origin of Lynn Sr. and Lance's rivalry.
It's the holiday season, and Lynn Sr. loudly proclaims that he has back pains. Upstairs, as the sisters play a bingo game based on the things their father says, Lincoln explains to the viewers that Lynn Sr. is perfectly fine; the reason he's faking his back pain is because gives him an excuse not to see his brother and the siblings' uncle, Lance. Lincoln explains (with rhyming narration) that five years ago, while the siblings and their cousins, Shane and Shelby, were asleep, Rita, Lynn Sr., Leonard, Lance and his wife, Sharon, initiated a White Elephant Gift Exchange. When Lynn Sr. got a brand-new spatula, Lance decided to mess with him by stealing his gift, and while trying to get it back, Lynn Sr. popped Lance's exercise ball. Fed up with each other's presence, the two Loud patriarchs proclaim that they never want to spend the holidays together ever again. Wanting to put an end to their rivalry so they can spend the holidays together again, Lincoln tells his sisters that he has a plan.
Meanwhile, in Petoskey Falls, Lance pretends to have an intense case of athlete's foot to avoid spending the holiday with Lynn Sr. While this is happening, Shane, Shelby and Shiloh (the latter wasn't born yet at the time of the incident) get a call from their cousins, and tell them that they have a plan to end their respective father's rivalry and says that they first must make a call to Leonard. The next day, Lynn Sr. and Lance's families each get letters from Leonard, saying that they want to spend the holidays together at Camp Mastodon. Enthralled by this news, Lynn Sr. and Lance immediately drop their acts and proclaim that they're heading for Camp Mastodon.
Gramps gives Lincoln an idea to get Lynn Sr. and Uncle Lance to reconcile.
Arriving to Camp Mastodon, Lynn Sr. and Lance are shocked and angry to learn that the other is here, and initially refuse to be together, however, at the insistence of Leonard, their wives and their children, they begrudgingly agree to spend the holiday together for their sake. Lincoln explains to his sisters and cousins that the next step of their plan is to engage in several family Christmas activities in the hopes that the amount of fun they'll have will make their fathers forget why they're fighting. Unfortunately, during these activities, which include tobogganing down hills, singing Christmas carols around the campfire and building snowmen, Lynn Sr. and Lance find some way to get on each other's nerves, like Lance giving Lynn Sr. a hard push down the hill, Lynn Sr. telling Lance his pitch is off, and the two trying to make their snowman bigger than the other's (even when they collapse, they brag on whose pile is bigger). With that plan unsuccessful, Leonard decides to go and find a tree to put in the mess hall, explaining that it was his sons' favorite Christmas activity. Getting an idea, Lincoln tells Leonard to have Lynn Sr. and Lance tag along, saying that this might be the activity that'll bring them together.
Later, Leonard, Lynn Sr. and Lance go looking for a tree. As Leonard begins chopping down a tree he likes, Lynn Sr. and Lance suddenly begin to reminisce on how accident-prone their father was when it came to cutting down the tree, like how he accidentally made the tree fall on top of Vanzilla, or when he chopped down a tree housing a family a squirrels, and how he once chopped down a telephone pole instead. Because of these memories, Lynn Sr. and Lance quickly forget what they were arguing about and decide to make up, while Leonard finally chops down the tree (which falls on top of a deer, who proceeds to buck it onto his car).
Inside the mess hall, as the families work to decorate the tree, everyone is happy to see Lynn Sr. and Lance be on good terms. As Lynn Sr. goes to the kitchen to get the food, Lincoln thinks this will be their best Christmas ever, when suddenly, Lance discovers a spider on one of the garlands and tries to kill it using Lynn Sr.'s new spatula. Unfortunately, his effort to do so only results in the spatula to become bent out of shape, and to make matters worse, Lynn Sr. comes back, discovers his spatula destroyed and suddenly remembers why he was angry at Lance to begin with, causing Lincoln to nervously remark that he may have spoken too soon.
Act II[]
When Lance realizes what he has done to his brother's spatula, he tries to fix it, but his efforts prove to be futile. As a result, Lynn Sr. believes that he destroyed it on purpose. Lance tries to deny this, but Lynn Sr., too angry to listen, decides to retaliate by popping Lance's newest exercise ball. Immediately, the two Loud brothers are back to hating each other again and refuse to spend Christmas together. When Rita asks how they're going to do that, since they're staying at the camp for the night, the brothers come up with an idea. Later, it's revealed that the two families are celebrating on opposite sides of the mess hall, as indicated by an orange line dividing the room; Leonard has been ordered to sit directly on the line (which is even painted on him), as his sons state that they don't want him to take sides. Realizing they're back to square one, Lincoln writes a message to his cousins telling them to meet up at their cabin, and they all manage to excuse themselves by saying that they need to use the restroom.
At their cabin, as the kids try to figure out how to get their fathers to be on good terms again, Shelby, after having a quick brainstorm, comes up with an idea: they would go to a store and buy a new spatula and exercise ball, and then gift them to their fathers under the impression that they got them for each other. Approving of this idea, Lincoln, Lori and Shelby decide to head to the store, while Lincoln orders the others to keep their fathers distracted, and offers them one of his walkie-talkies to stay communicated.
Lori, Lincoln, and Shelby are in terrible trouble.
While heading to the store, Shelby, who is revealed to have a terrible sense of direction, ends up giving Lori contradicting directions. Nonetheless, after accidentally causing the van to crash after slipping on a patch of ice, Lincoln, Lori and Shelby manage to find a store located at a distance. As they begin heading there, the ground below them suddenly cracks; Shelby realizes that they're on top of a lake that is slowly thawing, and to make matters worse, they didn't bring any swim gear. At that moment, the ice they're standing on breaks off in chunks, thus stranding the three in the middle of the lake. Their cries for help end up being transmitted through the walkie-talkies, thus blowing their cover to their fathers.
Upon learning of their predicament, Lynn Sr. and Lance, despite their animosity, decide to head out together and rescue their marooned children. After an argument-laden drive to the children's destination, the Loud brothers realize just how far the kids are. On top of that, the chunk of ice the kids are standing on is slowly breaking apart. Quickly thinking, Lance realizes that they need to make a zipline, and decides to use a harpoon Leonard gave him for his birthday to make the line, and two of his dumbbells as the handle. However, as Lance is too heavy for the zipline, he enlists his brother to zip down and rescue them. After a quick shove, Lynn Sr. barely manages to reach his children, but at that moment, the ice they're standing on eventually breaks to the point that Lynn Sr. can only balance on one foot. Luckily, Lance, after grabbing the other end of the rope, gives a hard yank, and successfully brings the kids and his brother back to the shore just as the last chunk of ice melts away. As Lincoln, Lori and Shelby hug their fathers for saving them, Lynn Sr. and Lance, now back on good terms again, decide to head back to camp.
All the Louds are happy to celebrate Christmas together.
Back at Camp Mastodon, as the other kids, their mothers and Leonard anxiously await the outcome (with Lucy thinking they might be dead), Lincoln, Lori, Shelby and the Loud fathers arrive back. Suddenly, Lynn Sr. tearfully confesses that, after everything they've been through, he realizes that family is much more important than gifts like a spatula or an exercise ball, to which a tearful Lance agrees with, and proceed to hug it out, thus allowing them to bury hatchet for good this time. As a result, all of the Louds end up having the best Christmas ever, topped off with Luna and Shane singing a song to celebrate.
This episode marks the series' 173rd half-hour of the series. This caused The Loud House to overtake The Fairly OddParents and Rugrats as the third- and second-longest-running Nicktoons of all time, respectively, in terms of episode count, as both series ended after 172 episodes.
In the case of the former, the series had already surpassed The Fairly OddParents with "Love Stinks" (the 295th individual segment) in terms of total segments count, as that series ran for a total of 294 individual segments.
Coincidentally, Rugrats ran for a total of 327 individual segments, and this episode marks the 327th individual segment of The Loud House. The following episode, "Let's Break a Deal", marks the 328th individual segment, which caused the series to likewise surpass Rugrats in terms of total segments count.
However, if the individual segments of "Season's Cheatings"/"A Flipmas Carol" count as separate entities, then The Loud House is actually the first Nicktoon to meet this criteria, as SpongeBob's third Christmas episode premiered one year after the latter, and thus, this also makes it the first Nicktoon to receive four Christmas episodes.
This also marks the second time The Loud House receives two full-length episodes themed around the same holiday (with the other Christmas-themed full-length episode being "11 Louds a Leapin'"), after the series' two Halloween-themed episodes, "Tricked!" and "Great Lakes Freakout!".
This is the first Christmas-themed episode of The Loud House not to use the winter background for the credits.
This episode marks the first appearance of Lance, Lynn Sr.'s brother, since "Home of the Fave".
This episode also reveals that he is now married to a woman named Sharon, and has three children, consisting of eldest Shane, middle child and only daughter Shelby, and youngest Shiloh.
This episode reveals the following:
Because of Lynn Sr. and Lance's hatred of each other, they would try to avoid spending the holidays together by faking injuries. The practice has become so common, the Loud sisters make a bingo game out of it.
Five years ago, the adults of the Loud family participated in a white elephant gift exchange that ended so disastrously, Lynn Sr. and Lance refused to spend any future holiday seasons together.
Since Lance lives in Petoskey Falls, this may explain why Lynn Sr. preferred the idea of it getting flooded over Royal Woods in "Save Royal Woods!".
Leonard delivers his letters by mailing them in giant fish, which are often still alive.
Lance owns a gymnasium called Endure Lance Gym.
Lynn Sr. and Lance's favorite holiday activity was finding a Christmas tree, as they would always get a laugh at the frequent mistakes Leonard would make. Some of these past mistakes include:
Him accidentally having the tree topple on top of Vanzilla
Him accidentally angering a family of squirrels who resided in the tree he was chopping
Him accidentally chopping down a telephone pole, resulting in them having no phone service for a month
This year, Leonard accidentally topples the tree on top of a deer, causing it to kick it off and land on his car.
Lola hates tofu gravy.
Lance's family holds a powerlifting competition every Christmas. In this episode, Sharon set a record for most times lifting the Christmas tree, at 32 in a row.
Much like his brother and father, Lance is no stranger to getting overemotional.
Lynn Sr. faking injuries to get out of going to Lance's house is similar to Lincoln faking medical issues to get out of climbing the rope in "Predict Ability".
Shelby making the Santa Claus on her sweater talk by moving the fabric around is similar to how Zach makes his stomach tattoo talk in "Schooled!".
The way Lynn Sr. and Lance divide the room is similar to the comic "The Saucy Line" from Lucy Rolls the Dice, as they both involve the former and another family member preventing their respective groups from seeing the other with a dividing line.
Additionally, they state that they want Leonard to sit directly on the line to prevent him from taking sides, referencing how he played favorites when they were kids in "Home of the Fave".
The three gingerbread Louds Lynn Sr. made were of himself, Lola and Lincoln.
The funeral outfit Lucy wears when she suspects Lincoln, Lori, Shelby, Lynn Sr. and Lance didn't survive is the same one she wore in "A Grave Mistake".
Luan before her braces
As shown in the flashback, Luan did not wear braces when she was ten years old. She likely didn't get them until she was eleven or older.
When Lincoln video calls the Loud cousins, Luan has a surprised face for some reason. Likewise, in a later scene when Leonard blows an air horn to stop his sons from fighting, Lana has a deadpan expression on her face.
One of the presents on the title card is shaped like a skull.
Coincidentally, Lucy receives said present in the episode, and Lynn receives the round present depicted next to it on the title card.
The squares on Lisa's bingo card:
"Lumbar"
Whimper
Yelp!
Rita, get the heat pad!
Dramatic collapse
Wail
Moan
Blame cycle
Ding dang darn it!!
"Sciatica"
Rita, get the ice pack!
Fake tears
(Free spot)
Neck brace
Quiet time
Lincoln has a plan
Botulism
Urgent care visit
Resentment!!
Turkey!
"Help!!"
Charlie horse
Shame spiral
3rd-degree burns
Owie!!
Lisa's card shows that this year, aside from three wails, two moans, and fourteen "ding-dang darn its", Lynn Sr. also did some dramatic collapses, whimpers, started a blame cycle, resentments, and complained about turkeys, alongside another thing that counts as a free spot.
Lynn wins this Christmas's bingo game when Lincoln comes up with a plan, implying that the sisters' bingo cards have a different arrangement of the spots.
When Lynn Sr. and Lance hoist themselves up after being knocked to the ground by Leonard pushing them out the door, the snow stuck to their faces resembles Leonard's facial hair.
Lance mentions that Leonard gave him a spear launcher, which coincidentally resembles the one Leonard used in "Bummer Camp", as a gift one year.
Lynn Sr.'s fear of spiders from "Along Came a Sister" is brought up when his spatula gets ruined at the end of the first act.
This is the second time Lynn Sr. fakes an injury/being sick to avoid seeing a relative. The first time was in "A Bug's Strife" where he pretends to be sick to get out of visiting Ruth with the rest of the family.
In a promo for this episode, both Lynn Sr. and Lance say "I'm not having Christmas with him!" in unison. However in the actual scene, they both say the line separately.
This episode was nominated for Best Holiday or Special Episode in the Kids category for the 2025 Kidscreen Awards.[citation needed]
Innuendo:
When Lance takes a bite of one of Lynn Sr.'s gingerbread Louds, he bites off the head, shocking Lynn Sr. into guarding his own head. Due to the depiction of decapitation, Sharon yells her husband's name in shock as she and Rita shield Lily and Shiloh's eyes, respectively.
Additionally, Rita also shields Lily's eyes when Lynn Sr. pops the Ab Blaster 5000, indicating that she interpreted it as her husband possessing murderous intentions towards Lance.
When Shane explains that Shelby's tornado-esque movement was a "Category 1" brainstorm, Luan explains how she would hate to see a Category 5.
While the rest of the Loud family anxiously waits for Lynn Sr., Lance, Lori, Lincoln and Shelby to return, Lucy dons a funeral outfit and veil, implying she did not think the five survived.
Irony:
Similar to Lincoln, Shelby is the middle child of her family, and is the only one of the opposite gender. Coincidentally, both are also the family masterminds.
Lynn Sr. complains about Lance's singing voice, despite wearing earmuffs.
Lance sees a present labeled for "Lynn" and kicks it out of the cabin's window, assuming it is for Lynn Sr. Lisa then points out the present is actually for Lynn Jr., meaning Lance had just lost a present that was originally for his niece. Lance even shouts "Go!" as he kicks the present into oblivion, mirroring Lynn Jr.'s athleticism.
This marks the first time in the series where there's confusion between Lynn Sr.'s and Lynn Jr.'s names.
Due to Shelby's terrible sense of direction, she had no idea on how to get to the store, but she, Lincoln and Lori managed to find it after crashing Vanzilla.
Despite having a cast on his left arm, Shiloh volunteered to follow Sharon in the powerlifting competition to stall time.
Despite enjoying ziplining as a kid in "Camped!", Lynn Sr. feared riding Lance's makeshift zipline in this episode.
However, this could be justified by the materials the makeshift zipline is made from.
Cartoon physics: A small chunk of ice was able to support the weight of four people at a time.
References[]
'Twas the Fight Before Christmas - The title of this episode is a pun of "'Twas the night before Christmas," the opening line to the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clark Moore.
This episode also shares the same title name of The Powerpuff Girls 2003 Christmas special, which Chris Savino previously worked on.
Lincoln even parodies the poem while explaining Lynn Sr.'s ritual of faking injuries to avoid visiting Lance.
Peanuts - The skirt of Lance's Christmas tree is yellow with black zig-zags, similarly to Charlie Brown's shirt.
Burying the hatchet - Leonard tells his sons to "bury the spatula", a spin on this idiom meaning to make peace.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - During a flashback, Leonard chops down a tree, not realizing that a colony of squirrels lives inside of it, causing the irritated squirrels to attack him, similarly to how Clark Griswold's family gets terrorized by a squirrel living in the Christmas tree in this 1989 film.
Open Season - The deer that gets hit by the tree that Leonard cuts down is missing one antler (which is chipped), similarly to Elliot, the deuteragonist of this 2006 Sony animated film, who has likewise survived an accident that otherwise would have killed him.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas - When Lance sees how Lynn Sr. got a new spatula, he smiles very menacingly, mirroring a scene from this 1966 Christmas TV special where the Grinch plans on preventing Christmas from being celebrated in Whoville.
Errors[]
Cristina Pucelli's first name is misspelled in the credits as "Christina".
Possible:
Plot holes:
According to Lincoln, Lynn Sr. and Lance's rivalry began five years ago. This means that Lana and Lola were two years old at the time, yet, they don't have stockings hanging on the fireplace, let alone make an appearance, in the flashback. Though, it is likely that the twins were sleeping a separate room, and their lack of stockings may be because they haven't gotten them yet. Additionally, Lynn's, Lucy's and Lisa's stockings are missing as well.
This episode reveals that Lynn Sr. would fake injuries to avoid seeing Lance during the holidays because of their hatred for each other; however, he wasn't shown doing so in "11 Louds a Leapin'", "Season's Cheatings", and "A Flipmas Carol". Though it is possible he did it off-screen in those episodes.
His live-action counterpart has a similar case with not faking injuries to avoid seeing Lance during the holidays in A Loud House Christmas, though this can be justified by him organizing a family trip to Miami instead.
Shiloh knows about Lynn Sr. and Lance's feud despite not being born yet at the time it happened. Though, he likely found out from Shane and Shelby or their parents as he got older.
Lincoln mentions that his green walkie-talkies are David Steele walkie-talkies, despite the fact that he owned green walkie-talkies in "Last Loud on Earth", which was before he gained interest in David Steele. It's possible that these are a different pair of walkie-talkies, but they look a lot alike.
During the second flashback, Vanzilla is beaten up and all of the letters on the Fungo emblem except the F are missing from the front of the van, despite Lynn Sr. and Lance both being teenagers and the incident with Leonard causing the tree to fall on top of Vanzilla happening when they were kids. However, it is likely that Leonard neglected to fix the van, or that the van got beaten up a second time on the interim between the two flashbacks.
Shiloh uses a starfish as a Christmas tree star, despite the fact that starfish are not native to the Great Lakes or most other freshwater bodies. However, it is likely that Leonard caught the starfish at sea.
While trying to pop Lance's Ab Blaster 5000, Lynn Sr. gets hit in the face with his spatula, leaving a spatula-shaped mark on his face. However, while trying to destroy the ball with his teeth, the mark disappears.
Also, the spatula-shaped mark on his face is straight, even though it should be bent up.
For most of the episode, Shiloh's cast is on his left arm. However, when he performs his reconciliation cannonball, the cast is on his right arm.
Videos[]
Lincoln’s Frosty Fright Before Christmas! ⛄️ - The Loud House - Nickelodeon UK
Loud House ''Twas the Fight Before Christmas' 5 Minute Episode! 💥 - Nicktoons
Lincoln’s Festive Feud Fix Before Christmas 🎄 - The Loud House - Nickelodeon UK
