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Santa, Sex Scandals, and Woodworking: Watch the Parks and Rec Holiday Episodes
There were plenty of Christmas shenanigans in the show's seven seasons to look back on with cheer.
If there's one thing Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) from Parks and Recreation is known for, it's her incredible gift-giving and love of celebrations. The show's protagonist loves hosting annual Galentine's Day parties and finding the perfect present for each person in her inner circle, so it's no surprise that the holiday episodes of Parks and Rec always go hard.
Revisit the times Christmas came to Pawnee, and stream the full episodes on Peacock to celebrate the season with the entire Parks team.
Season 2, Episode 12 ("Christmas Scandal")
This early-on episode begins with the entire Parks crew performing at the "Follies," a Pawnee holiday party. Leslie did an impression of a councilman that received laughs from the entire room, and her whole team sang a song about Pawnee, led by Donna Meagle (Retta).
Leslie also planned a "Winter Wonderland" party in the town's empty lot, complete with Santa and Christmas carols. However, the event went sideways when Leslie got accidentally looped into some town gossip.
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The councilman she had parodied was involved in a sex scandal, and he asked her to meet with him to figure out how she'd known about the scandal before it was leaked. After they met up at a bar, the local tabloid, The Pawnee Sun, published photos of Leslie with the councilman and claimed that she was actually involved with him.
Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) helped Leslie confront the councilman to ask him to diffuse the story, but news outlets snapped photos of all three of them together, looping Ann into the rumors. Fortunately, Leslie finally got the councilman to publicly say they were not involved, and Pawnee was able to enjoy the Winter Wonderland adventure after all.
Season 4, Episode 10 ("Citizen Knope")
As Leslie's campaign for city council heated up, it was revealed to Pawnee that she was in a relationship with her boss, Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott), and her numbers tanked. Her campaign team dumped her, stating that they could not come back from having just 1 percent of public approval, and she spent much of the episode doing local organizing since she was suspended from her Parks job.
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However, the Parks crew came together to support Leslie in a few ways.
Citing her knack for gift-giving, they all decided to make a gingerbread house replica of the office. As they revealed this to her, they also told her that they would come together and serve as her campaign team. All in all, "Citizen Knope" delivered the spirit of Christmas, showing how the entire eclectic squad could come together for their fearless leader.
Season 5, Episode 9 ("Ron and Diane")
At the very beginning of the episode, Leslie barged into Ron Swanson's (Nick Offerman) office to break the news that he had been nominated for a woodworking award. Dressed in a full Christmas getup, she said "Merry Congratu-Christmas," her portmanteau for the dual celebration, and sang to him a song she made up: "Jingle bells, jingle yay, jingle good for you."
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Meanwhile, Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza), and Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) prepared to celebrate their annual "Jerry Dinner," where they spend the money that accumulated from putting $1 into a box every time Jerry Gergich (Jim O'Heir) did something that made them laugh.
As they drove to dinner, they noticed that the Gergich family was hosting an elaborate Christmas party, and realized they'd missed their invitations because they had all set filters to make Jerry's emails go to a spam folder.
Watch all of the Christmastime drama unfold in the full episodes on Peacock
