It was written and directed by series creator Chris Carter, and featured guest appearances by Edward Asner and Lily Tomlin.

"How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.6, being watched by 17.3 million people in its initial broadcast.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files.

The duo soon discover a pair of lovelorn spectres living inside the house who are determined to prove how lonely the holidays can be.

Carter based the episode around an idea he and fellow writer Frank Spotnitz had been working on, set in a haunted house.

Featuring the smallest cast of an X-Files episode—with only four actors—and a single set, "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" was the cheapest sixth season episode.

Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) reluctantly responds to Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) call on Christmas Eve to investigate a haunted house in Maryland.

Scully, who doesn't want to abandon her Christmas plans, follows Mulder into the house to retrieve her car keys from him, and the door to the mansion slams shut.

Inside the house, the agents experience strange phenomena: creaks are heard in the ceiling from the upper floor, and the shadow in the form of an old woman in a nightgown is seen, among other occurrences.

[2] "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" featured the smallest cast of any X-Files episode, with only Duchovny, Anderson, and the two guest stars interacting.

Lily Tomlin, who played the part of Lyda, had originally approached The X-Files producers several seasons prior and asked to be cast in an episode.

[3] Special effects editor Bill Millar was tasked with designing the "bloodless bullet holes" that Scully, and later Mulder, discover on Maurice and Lyda.

"[3] Anderson was later critical of the fake blood used for the episode because the sheer quantity quickly coagulated and formed a "gummy mess".

[3] Mark Snow, the composer for the episode, admitted to "ripping off" Joseph Haydn's "Toy" Symphony to create the eerie Baroque-inspired harpsichord score.

"[7] Corey Kaplan later won an award of excellence from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Art Directors for his work on "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas.

"[14] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode five stars out of five.

[17] Vitaris was unhappy with the way Maurice and Lyda were characterized, noting that their method of trying to get Mulder and Scully to kill each other resulted in "endless psychobabble dialogue".

[17] Michigan Daily writer Melissa Runstrom, in a review of the sixth season, described "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" as "hokey" and "over-the-top.