In 2012, glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) selects Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) and Tina Cohen-Chang (Jenna Ushkowitz) to create New Directions' entry for McKinley High's annual tree decorating contest, and Tina becomes obsessed with winning the grand prize, an angel sculpture.
Tina, Marley Rose (Melissa Benoist) and Wade "Unique" Adams (Alex Newell) compete for the role of Virgin Mary, and invite Kitty Wilde (Becca Tobin) to audition with them, but she refuses.
In New York, Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) and Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) are visited by Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), still recovering from her break-up with Brittany Pierce.
After sending Becky to the nurses office after lying to her that the mistletoe is poison sumac, Sue announces that she'll be judging the tree decorating contest and is planning on ranking the glee club last.
When Rachel and Santana wake up the following day, they find Kurt bound and gagged and learn that Cody is a con artist who has robbed them.
After Sue announces that the glee club has won the decorating contest, Sam and Tina notice that Becky is depressed about losing, especially after Sue criticizes her entry, and decide to give her the angel sculpture in order to cheer her up, in addition to offering her a role in the nativity scene portraying the baby Jesus In New York, Rachel apologizes for what happened with Cody and announces she got the trio another gig as "living mannequins" in a clothing store.
[1][2] Recurring characters in this episode include McKinley football coach Shannon Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) and cheerleader Becky Jackson (Lauren Potter).
[4] Titled Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 4, the songs included are "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", performed by the glee club; Diana Ross & the Supremes' "Love Child",[5] and "Mary's Little Boy Child", both performed by Alex Newell, Jenna Ushkowitz and Melissa Benoist; "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" performed by Lea Michele, Chris Colfer, Naya Rivera plus a new character named Cody; "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" sung by Michele, Colfer and Rivera; and "Away in a Manger" performed by New Directions featuring Tobin, Michele, Colfer and Rivera.
"[12] Marc Snetiker of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a negative review, saying "If you’ve defended the lovably crackers series through the years, I particularly encourage you not to bring up “Christmas Don’t Be Late,” in which Rachel, Kurt, and Santana inhale helium and channel Alvin and the Chipmunks in a truly horrifying display.
"[13] Daniel Sperling of Digital Spy also commented negatively on the episode, noting the episode's tendency to present offensive material, saying "Yes, it's deliberately over the top and annoying (we genuinely wanted to harm someone when Rachel, Kurt and Santana sucked helium to do The Chipmunks), there are explicit references to race and religion, plot holes are exposed and it blows raspberries in the face of those who call it insensitive by being wildly insensitive, but Glee's started to do that on an almost weekly basis now.