CBS Channel December 15, 2000 A Garfield Christmas

Garfield wakes up on Christmas morning to find Jon dressed up as an elf. Jon then lays out a trail of lasagna to lead Garfield to his gift, which consists of a robotic mind-reading Santa which can produce anything desired. This pleases Garfield until he wakes up to find it was a dream and sees Jon next to him. Jon informs an uninterested Garfield that it is Christmas Eve morning, as well as his plans to go to the countryside with both of his pets to celebrate Christmas with Jon's family on their farm. Garfield complains about being required to go to the farm, as opposed to staying at the Arbuckle house for Christmas. Jon, Garfield, and Odie drive to the farm. Jon talks about how (almost) everybody is happy at Christmas. He then talks and sings about how he and Doc Boy were little at Christmas. They arrive and Jon greets the family: his mom, dad, Doc Boy, and Grandma, who remembers Garfield. Garfield can see that he will get along well with Grandma. While Garfield, Jon, and Odie are outside, Grandma secretly puts chili powder in the sausage gravy. Odie is busy working on something secretive. Everyone has Christmas dinner after Doc Boy says a long-winded grace. Grandma secretly gives food to Garfield and Odie. They then decorate the tree, finding it too difficult to get the star on top of the tree; Garfield manages to accomplish the task. They then sing Christmas songs while Grandma tells Garfield about her late husband, noting that this is the night she misses him most. The family then makes Dad read "Binky: the Clown who Saved Christmas" which he hates reading every year, before they go to bed. Garfield finds out about Odie's suspicious activity and follows him into the barn. There, he stumbles upon some old letters which he estimates to be fifty years old. Meanwhile, Jon and Doc Boy wake Dad up because it is "technically Christmas morning"; Dad says that they should go back to bed because it is 1:30 in the morning and not yet time to open presents. The next morning, Jon and Doc Boy decide to open presents first. After seemingly all the presents have been opened, Garfield gives Grandma the letters he found in the barn. The letters turn out to be old love letters written to Grandma by her husband from back when they dated. Garfield finds out that Odie had been busy making Garfield the ultimate Christmas gift: a homemade back-scratcher. This is a rare glimpse at Garfield's softer side, as he learns one of the true meanings of Christmas by saying "Christmas, it's not the giving, it's not the getting, it's the loving". Everyone then sings and dances.