A Phineas and Ferb Family Christmas

The boys decide to put on a traditional family Christmas special featuring their family, friends and a few very special guests, including Kelly Clarkson (playing herself).

Episode summary
Phineas and Ferb are lying under the oak tree in their backyard when Phineas comments that it's hot and suggests they do something to cool off. When Ferb proposes a visit to Antarctica, Phineas turns it down and decides to host a traditional family-oriented Christmas Special that would be broadcasted live on television.

Several people come onto the screen, mainly dressed and equipped as people would be in a studio and they instantly start preparing for a Christmas Special, pulling onto the screen a cardboard background that resembles the inside of a log cabin. Phineas and Ferb are given sweaters that they put on, and fake snow starts to come down from a guy shifting fake snow from the top of the Flynn-Fletcher backyard tree. The 12th Annual Phineas and Ferb Christmas Special (as it is called) is hosted by Wintobreath Toothpaste. The Christmas Special stars the Flynn-Fletcher family and their acquaintances and features several unnamed extras. Isabella soon walks in, wearing a white turtleneck sweater, purple leggings, and pink fluffy boots underneath her dress that she wears everyday. Isabella says that her favorite part of the holidays was music and begins singing "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow".

After Isabella's musical number ends, Candace bursts in to find that Phineas and Ferb were hosting a Christmas Special, Candace, upon noticing that the Christmas Special was live on TV, sets out to bust Phineas and Ferb once again by leaving off stage and goes behind one of the cardboard backgrounds to call Linda Flynn who at the moment was shopping in downtown. Candace tells Linda to look at the TV behind her when she realizes that Linda is standing in front of a whole wall of TVs. However, when Linda turns to look at the TV, it switches to the advertisement of Wintobreath Toothpaste. Linda quickly remembers that they need toothpaste, thanks Candace and ends the phone call, much to Candace's frustration.

Phineas soon comments that Perry was missing. The scene shifts to Perry dropping into his lair where Major Monogram notifies Perry that Carl was being on a Christmas Special as an extra and had no idea what Doofenshmirtz was doing and decides to send Perry in a blind mission against Doofenshmirtz. Perry salutes his boss before running off the screen.

The next scene is back in the cabin where Lawrence Fletcher made his appearance. Candace asks her father if the TV special was fine with him to which Lawrence informs her that he is pleased that they are putting on a "traditional" Christmas Special. Zooming out of the picture is Doofenshmirtz, wondering what happened and why it seemed to be Christmas. He wondered where Fall had gone before deciding that he was out of it and decides on the point that he needed to get his "yuletide on and fast" before rushing off screen.

Next, back in the cabin, Isabella walks up to Phineas who is sitting on the window ledge staring out the window and asks what was wrong. When he answers that Perry hadn't returned to celebrate Christmas yet, Isabella leans back and whispers to Ferb, making sure that Phineas knew that it wasn't actually Christmas. Ferb replies that every Christmas needed a little false drama. Soon afterwards, a knock at the door brings in the famous singer: Kelly Clarkson to where she is immediately asked to sing. When she replies that she had nothing prepared, Phineas decides to push her to just sit back and relax, saying that they would just have somebody else sing.

Over in Doofenshmirtz's lab, the evil jingle for Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated was Doofenshmirtz singing Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated in the "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" tune. Perry bursts in, and immediately looks up to find a mistletoe dangling from above, quickly moves aside and goes into a fighting stance. Doofenshmirtz was building his latest -inator when he heard Perry come in. Doofenshmirtz traps Perry and admits that Christmas seemed to have snuck up on him and he was behind on his shopping. His solution: The Transportinator. So he could go on shopping while everybody else was circling around looking for parking spaces. Doofenshmirtz admitted it was more unfair than evil before switching on the Transportinator which immediately began transporting him to the shopping stores to begin shopping for Christmas. The scene shifts back to the cabin where Phineas asked who was coming down the chimney. It was Baljeet in what appeared to be an elf costume. Baljeet said that he broke the fire (it was cardboard). Phineas ignores it and asked Baljeet to sing a song. Baljeet says that it was supposed to be a duet (indicating that somebody else was supposed to be there). After a second, the walls behind Baljeet were pulled away to reveal a piano and a pianist. Baljeet immediately started singing "Good King Wenceslas". Buford soon bursts in after a single line and says that he was busy rewriting the lyrics. The song went from Good King Wenceslas to all about Buford getting gifts, Baljeet complains that the song is all about Good King Wenceslas and Buford shows that he has background information about King Wenceslas in the song before reverting back to being all about him getting gifts.

Kelly Clarkson stands up at that point and offers to sing after hearing Baljeet and Buford battle back and forth. Phineas goes up and tells her to sit back down and relax. When Kelly Clarkson protested, Phineas gave the excuse that he didn't want to ask her to "work" on Christmas, to which she didn't have a reply.

Doofenshmirtz is just about to check out of the store with his shopping when he complains that the store was getting lazy and not putting up its Christmas decorations. That was when Perry hit the reverse switch on the Transportinator, bringing Doofenshmirtz back to his Evil Lair without his gifts. A small battle ensues where Perry hits the Transportinator several times with hardened fruit cake. When electrical sparks could be seen coming from it, Perry jumped into the reactivated Transportinator, which shot him right back to the Flynn-Fletcher Family Christmas. Phineas is complaining that Perry wasn't there and hadn't returned, but decided to go ahead with opening presents anyway. The first one Phineas picked up turned out to be the present where Perry had been shot into from the Transportinator. After discovering Perry, Phineas and everybody start singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas".

After the song is over, the Transportinator transports the fake Christmas stuff (including everybody except the main members of the show: Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, Candace, and Lawrence) all the way back to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated where all the Christmas Show stuff (including all the extras) were transported.

Soon afterwards, Linda comes back into the backyard where she said that she was told that they had done Christmas in July. Candace eagerly said that they had a Christmas Special, giving up on busting her brothers realizing the spirit of their idea and saying that it was actually kinda nice. To which she gets a chorus of "Awwww's". Doofenshmirtz complains that the reverse switch only works for Perry the Platypus and not for himself. When Doofenshmirtz realizes who was stepping on his hand, he asks her to sing for him. Instead, they all notice the Transportinator about ready to explode and they all run out. All except for Doofenshmirtz. As the Transportinator exploded, Kelly Clarkson escaped from the building in much the same way that Perry the Platypus escapes: via hand-glider. Doofenshmirtz shouted at the end: "CURSE YOU PERRY THE PLATYPUS! and to a lesser extent: KELLY CLARKSON! Although, I do love her work..."

Songs

 * Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
 * Good King Wenceslas
 * We Wish You A Merry Christmas

End Credits
A repeat of the second, third and fourth verses of Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.

Ferb's Line
(Sings in We Wish You A Merry Christmas)

Perry's entrance to his lair
He enters into his lair and Monogram tells him that Carl is acting as an extra in a Christmas special and sends him to stop Doofenshmirtz.

During the passage "We wish you a Perry Christmas" of We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Perry enters the lair when Monogram and Carl end their line. He starts decorating the lair in a Christmas-style, and after the last "We Wish You a Perry Christmas" he makes his chattering sound and gives a little smirk at the camera.

Background Information

 * "A Phineas and Ferb Family Christmas" features songs from the Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites album – Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow by Isabella, the Buford and Baljeet rendition of Good King Wenscelas, and the whole gang singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
 * This episode is also referred to as "Phineas and Ferb's Family Christmas Special".
 * The cabin depicted on the calendar is the one Phineas and Ferb are in.
 * More of Isabella's family is shown in this episode, including Nana Shapiro ("Lotsa Latkes") and possibly her father.
 * This episode happened sometime in July.
 * This episode is sometimes paired with "S'Winter".
 * Isabella wore the most winter outfits than all of her other winter episodes combined.
 * It is possible the line "12th annual Phineas and Ferb family Christmas" reveals Phineas and Ferb are twelve years old.
 * Isabella's hair style is different during the second verse of Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.
 * This is the first episode that Dan Povenmire directed in Season 3, not counting Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension.
 * It is unknown why Isabella's lines in We Wish You A Merry Christmas in the Latin-American version were switched.
 * This episode marks the first time Vivian is seen in Season 3.
 * It is revealed that Irving plays the French horn.

Production Information

 * This episode aired on Disney Channel (US) on December 2, 2011 right before the premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movie Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas and right after a special rerun of "Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!".
 * This episode is not paired with any episode. This makes it the first half-length standalone episode of the series.
 * However, when the show first started airing on Disney Channel, all the episodes were half-length and not paired together until "It's About Time!".

International Premieres

 * December 4, 2011 (Disney Channel Brazil and Latin America)
 * December 15, 2011 (Disney XD UK)
 * December 16, 2011 (Family Channel)
 * December 23, 2011 (Disney XD Germany; Disney XD Spain; Disney Channel Portugal)
 * December 24, 2011 (Disney XD Poland; Disney Channel Poland; Disney Channel Spain)
 * December 25, 2011 (Disney Channel Asia; Disney XD Canada)

Errors

 * Isabella came to the door with Phineas and Ferb to see Kelly Clarkson but after Phineas says "Oh, that's too bad. We'll have a seat, we'll have someone else sing.", she wasn't there.
 * When Major Monogram is singing his part of We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Carl can be seen wearing his Christmas sweater but when it zooms out, Carl is seen wearing his regular clothes again.
 * Before Isabella starts singing "Let It Snow", it is daytime. While she is singing, it is nighttime, but during the last verse and in the rest of the episode, it is daytime again. Though it could be special effects.
 * During the last line of "Let It Snow", Isabella is wearing mittens with her outfit, but when she forms a "heart" sign over the Phineas silhouette on the window screen, she doesn't have any mittens on, but is wearing them again in the next scene. She could've taken her mittens off to form the "heart" sign. And throughout the song, her outfits change constantly.
 * When Phineas is sad about Perry not being there, there are stockings on the mantle, but in when he is singing in We Wish You A Merry Christmas, he fires stockings onto the mantle.
 * When Irving is playing the French horn, his glasses are green. (This may not be an error. Irving may be wearing green glasses to fit in with the Christmas theme.)
 * When Dr. Doofenshmirtz is checking out from the store after finishing his Christmas shopping but is impeded when his Transport-Inator teleports him back to his building, the cashier reports, "Customer Vaporization on Aisle 4," when it happened on a checkout lane. He should have reported "Lane 4" instead.
 * When Baljeet and Buford sing, the piano's sheet has one piece, but after Buford talks to Baljeet, the piano's sheet has two pieces, and after that the piano sheet's back to one pieces.
 * "¡Olé!" isn't a Mexican word, is an Spanish word (of Spain). However, "¡Olé!" is also used in Mexican bullfightings, which are common in that country.

Continuity

 * This is the second Christmas episode of the series, but the first to be only 11 minutes long. The first was "Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!".
 * This is the third time the boys do something to cool off. Previously were in "Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror" and "S'Winter".
 * Isabella wears similar clothes that she wore in "S'Winter". The winter hat she wears at the end credits is the same one she wore in "Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!"
 * Phineas says that this is the best Christmas ever, in the same way that Doofenshmirtz said in "Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!".
 * Carl salutes again like in "Swiss Family Phineas" and "Undercover Carl".
 * Nana Shapiro from "Lotsa Latkes" reappears.
 * Carl takes part of one of Phineas and Ferb's ideas again ("Undercover Carl").
 * Doofenshmirtz mentions that he likes brittle ("Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!", "Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension").
 * Fourth time someone of the Flynn-Fletcher family (excluding Perry) sees Carl ("Comet Kermillian", "Undercover Carl", "Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension"). Also, this is the 4th time someone of their friends see him ("Undercover Carl", "Swiss Family Phineas", "Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension").
 * Vivian Garcia-Shapiro wears the same blue sleeveless dress she had on in "Picture This".
 * This is the second time Isabella plays a violin. She played the violin during Let's Take a Rocket Ship to Space on Out to Launch.

Allusions

 * This episode appears to parody the concept of the Christmas variety special, a once-common concept for Christmas specials at the time which featured performances and appearances by celebrity guests and musicians.
 * One of Isabella's relatives (as can be seen behind Ferb) is wearing a shirt with the number 42 on it, a reference to The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. Phineas and Ferb made a car and put the number 42 on it for the Swamp Oil 500 and won the reace in "The Fast and the Phineas" with the Fireside Girl's help.