The creators of Glee received permission from the estate of Dr. Seuss for the use of characters from How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, but were not allowed to use them in promotional photographs.

The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, while the music, especially the rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" as a duet between Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss), was extensively praised.

At Dalton Academy in Westerville, Ohio, former New Directions member Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) sings a duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with his friend Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) to help him rehearse it for the Kings Island Christmas Spectacular.

Glee club co-captain Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) twice attempts to make amends with her estranged boyfriend Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), who is still upset that she cheated on him with his best friend Puck (Mark Salling), and he officially ends their relationship.

Hoping to maintain her faith, Artie convinces football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) to go to Brittany's house dressed as Santa and explain that this particular wish cannot be granted.

Incensed, Sue dresses as the Grinch, with her favorite cheerleader Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter) as Max, and steals back the presents while she vandalizes the choir room's Christmas decorations.

The club members are stunned by the theft and destruction, but Will encourages them to give a private performance for the faculty, which proves successful and garners many charitable donations.

She returns the presents to Will at his apartment, and brings the New Directions members to decorate a new Christmas tree and spread holiday cheer.

The creators of Glee received permission from the estate of Dr. Seuss for the use of characters from How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, but were not allowed to use them in promotional photographs.

[1] Recurring characters in this episode include glee club members Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.), Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) and Lauren Zizes (Ashley Fink), school bullies Dave Karofsky (Max Adler) and Azimio (James Earl), football coach Shannon Beiste, cheerleader Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter), Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba), and Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) lead singer of the Dalton Academy Warblers.

It won the 18–49 demographic against an NCIS rerun on CBS, Minute to Win It on NBC, the A Charlie Brown Christmas special on ABC, and One Tree Hill on CW.

The episode's Australian broadcast, on February 7, 2011, drew 769,000 viewers, which made Glee the seventeenth most-watched program of the night; it failed to place in the top fifty in the weekly viewership rankings.

[14] Here, viewership registered a steep 23% fall from the previous episode, "Special Education, which attracted 1.02 million viewers when it aired on January 31, 2011, and ranked twenty-seventh for the week.

"[19] The title of the article they wrote with Meghan Brown, "Glee Does Christmas: Cheesy but Charming", found echoes in other reviews: both Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times and Anthony Benigno of the Daily News also thought the episode was quite cheesy, but Benigno characterized it as "the good kind of cheese; the kind you'll eat for antipasti before grandma and grandpa bring out the roast beef on Christmas dinner", and Reiter's bottom line was that it "may not have been the most wonderful episode of the year, but it did feature moments that twinkled and shined like the lovingly trimmed family tree.

"[20][21] Time's James Poniewozik was less enthusiastic when he noted that Glee delivered an episode "that touched on all the requisite holiday bases but that felt perfunctory", and added that it was "generally ho-ho-hum".

[22] Robert Canning of IGN gave it a "great" 8 out of 10, but stated that "the episode as a whole was lacking just a bit to turn it into an absolute classic", and The A.V.

"[18] The New York Post's Jarett Wieselman called it "adorably realized by actress Heather Morris", and Canning said she "perfectly played up Brittany's innocence and joy surrounding everything Santa".

However, he was disappointed by how the storyline played out: "it didn't feel right that after the story the episode built around Brittany, it then felt that we needed to see Artie on his feet for it to be a truly happy ending.

[23] Hankinson felt that the Grinch was "the perfect touchstone for the heartless Ms. Sylvester and Jane Lynch's lanky frame made the physical humor (think gliding around the base of the tree on her belly) really sing.

[19] Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone wrote that it was "full of sweet harmonies and has an ideal undercurrent of romantic tension", though Harper "wasn't feeling any chemistry between them"; she felt the performance was "a little overacted", but noted that "their voices seem to like each other".

Futterman wrote that "she nails the sentiment with her restrained take—but we'd love to move past Rachel's phase of singing Lite-FM ballads while watching everyone in bliss around her".

[4] Benigo called it "nice and fun" and Michele's voice "still a thing of wonder", and he gave the song an "A−", but added he was weary of "Rachel In Anguish Face".

lang, based on a version of the song by artist Aimee Mann, as Sue wreaks havoc on the choir room, confused some reviewers, who thought that it was sung by Lynch herself.