The gang prepares to celebrate Christmas together. The apartment is decorated, and Marshall is super excited about it, but he leaves to go to the library to finish a paper. Lily and Ted find their old answering machine, and they listen to a message from when Lily and Marshall were broken up. Ted called Lily a "grinch" however Future Ted reveals he didn't really call Lily a grinch, he called her something much worse.
Lily gets pissed off and makes off with all of the Christmas decorations to her apartment. Ted tries to apologize, but she doesn't accept his apology, and Ted eventually gives up and goes and has Christmas with his religious cousin.
Meanwhile Robin takes care of Barney while he is sick.
Eventually Marshall returns to the apartment and reveals he spent the entire afternoon tracking down an Easy Bake Oven to give to Lily, based on Ted's suggestion. Lily is moved, and the gang goes to get Ted, to celebrate Christmas together as a gang.
Notes
This is the first Christmas they celebrate together as the gang. In many ways the five of them act as their own little family, which fits with the theme of the show. Friends are family. Robin taking care of Barney also fits with this theme, and also shows some great interactions between the two. Barney/Robin fans often note this episode in the middle of Ted and Robin's relationship as foreshadowing of Barney and Robin getting together. We also get to see College Ted, Lily, and Marshall, who are all stoners. Future Ted refers to the bad word he said as "grinch" which is one of many examples of Future Ted using euphemisms when talking about the past. Finally we get a running gang of Barney describing himself as being awesome, and when he's sick or sad or something he stops being that and just is awesome instead.
Review
There are parts of this episode I love. The Barney and Robin parts in particular make me smile every time I see them, mostly because I'm a Barney/Robin fan. Other parts just seem to be kind of a cliche. It's a christmas episode, and the plot isn't particularily original. I enjoy the holiday spirit of the episode, but it's only about an average HIMYM episode in my opinion.
Ranking
5 out of 10.
Season Comparion between Season One and Two: "The Limo" vs. "How Lily Stole Christmas"
Everything is relative. In HIMYM, the words "good" or "excellent" refer to how an episode relates to the average HIMYM episode. However the average HIMYM episode is already "excellent" and even a "poor" episode in HIMYM terms refers to a "good" episode of television. I just wanted to remind everyone of that, because I'm sometimes very critical of episodes. How Lily Stole Christmas was "mediocre" in HIMYM terms, but I would still prefer watching it to most other tv shows. And I have, several times. But while I do enjoy How Lily Stole Christmas, in HIMYM terms it was mediocre. The Limo on the other hand was awesome. It didn't need a holiday gimmick to be awesome either.
Winner
Season 1 Episode 11: The Limo
Scoreboard
Season 1: 5
Season 2: 7
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