[2] Harry Crane tries to help out old friend Paul Kinsey, who has fallen on hard times and become involved with Hare Krishna and a bohemian devotee girlfriend.

This episode also marks the first appearance of Michael Gladis (Paul Kinsey) since the third season's finale "Shut the Door.

Lane Pryce's attorney abroad instructs him to wire £2,900 (US$8,000) to England to cover back taxes within two days.

Harry (Rich Sommer) schedules coffee with Paul Kinsey (Michael Gladis), then reports a strong first-quarter outlook to Lane but warns that actual commitments from clients are still uncertain.

Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) tells Don (Jon Hamm) and Roger (John Slattery) that Edwin Baker has been fired from Jaguar and their firm is back in contention for the account.

Paul, wearing a robe and sporting a shaved head, greets Harry at a Hare Krishna gathering.

Megan (Jessica Paré) and Don watch the play America Hurrah, in which a character rants against TV advertisements.

Don admits that, due to the sheer volume of flowers she received, he thought she was dating Aly Khan.

When he's ready to leave, Don offers to return the Jaguar by himself, slipping Joan some "mad money" in case it doesn't work out with the other man, and advising her to stand over by the jukebox: "That was a pretty good look before."

The next day, Joan is delivered flowers from "Ali Khan," with a note stating that her mother did a good job.

At the office, Pete informs the partners that Mohawk Airlines is suspending their advertising budget due to a machinist strike.

Don ends the meeting with a rally, saying that every Madison Avenue agency is defined by their first automobile client, and that when they obtain the Jaguar account, the world will know about SCDP.

Club gave the episode an A− grade, adding that "'Christmas Waltz' sees the characters confronting materialism and consumerism itself, in a handful of separate plots.

[6] Alan Sepinwall of Hitfix praised the storylines involving Don and Joan's bond and Paul's return, but called Lane's journey the "sketchiest of the week, in the same way that his infatuation with the woman in the wallet was the one misstep in the season premiere.

"[7] "Christmas Waltz" was watched by 1.92 million viewers and received an adult 18-49 rating of 0.6, marking the lowest numbers for the series since the third season.

[8] "Christmas Waltz" was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic).