It begins in a forest, where Stan Marsh discovers a group of talking animals, known as the Woodland Critters, consisting of Squirrely the Squirrel, Rabbity the Rabbit, Raccoony the Raccoon, Beavery the Beaver, Beary the Bear, Porcupiney the Porcupine, Skunky the Skunk, Foxy the Fox, Deery the Deer, Woodpeckery the Woodpecker, Mousey the Mouse, and Chickadee-y the Chickadee are building a Christmas tree.
Stan and the cubs return to the forest, only to discover that the Antichrist, a hairless, jabbering little creature, has already been born, with Kyle tied to a Satanic altar.
The scene suddenly cuts to Mr. Garrison's fourth-grade class, revealing that the entire episode up until now has been a Christmas-themed story narrated by Eric Cartman for a school assignment.
They tried to come up with an idea, but nothing came up through Thursday and Friday, which was considered a huge setback due to the show's rushed production schedule.
So troubled was the production that Parker considered calling Comedy Central to inform them that they would not have an episode to air on the forthcoming Wednesday.
On Saturday morning, they decided to just do the idea of parodying John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together holiday special, which had been in gestation for some time.
Later that afternoon, the writers had a breakthrough with the idea of depicting the Critters as Satanic worshippers, as well as satirizing the blood orgy scene from the 1997 movie Event Horizon.
By Sunday, the episode developed into a storyline featuring a rhyming narration in the style of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and ending with the twist reveal of being a story told by Cartman to his classmates.
Parker recalled how, while driving home later that evening, he spontaneously "roared like a lion" upon the realization that not only would there be an episode completed in time, but one satisfactory enough to end the season on a high note.
"Woodland Critter Christmas", along with the thirteen other episodes from South Park's 8th season, were released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on August 29, 2006.