As a kid, Happy Days was one of my very favorite shows, and one of my favorite episodes is from the show’s second season. ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Christmas’ is the Happy Days Christmas Episode that I try to catch every season. It’s todays little piece of Christmas ephemera.

This Happy Days Christmas episode aired December 17, 1974, and it’s since become a television holiday classic. The show in its second season was still shot on film; the older Cunningham son Chuck hadn’t mysteriously vanished from existence yet. The Cunningham’s house still hadn’t somehow completely changed its layout. The second season is Happy Days in its prime.

The Happy Days Christmas Episode Story

In ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Christmas,’ the Cunninghams are getting everything in order in anticipation of their Christmas Eve celebration, where just the family will gather to trim the tree, drink the cider, and sing the carols. Real old-fashioned Christmasy stuff that Mr. C takes very seriously. Family only!

On the way home from Cunningham hardware, the car breaks down, and only Arthur ‘The Fonz’ Fonzarelli is available to fix it. The Fonz is so cool that he rejects the Cunninghams’ offer to pay for the repairs, being that it’s Christmas Eve and all. He also refuses the C’s offer to drive him to his family’s Christmas celebration in Waukesha.

On the way home Richie realizes he forgot to give Fonzie his Christmas gift. Back at the garage, he spies a lonely Fonzie warming a can of food over a hot plate….alone. At Christmas. Not good. But Mr. C is so crazed about getting his family Christmas Eve started he won’t listen to Richie telling him about Fonzie’s predicament.

I won’t spoil the rest of the story…it’s not complicated and I’ll bet you can probably guess what ends up happening. It’s a very touching, heartwarming episode.

For some reason, Happy Days is rarely seen on TV. It’s not currently available to stream (not on any platform I subscribe to anyway.) It’s even kind of hard to find on DVD. That leaves bootleggy versions on YouTube.

Here, for your holiday enjoyment, the classic Happy Days Christmas episode “Guess Who’s Coming to Christmas.” Watch it here before it’s pulled from YouTube. (Happens every year.)

The post A Very Happy Days Christmas Episode appeared first on BrainstemBob.