I Won't Be Home for Christmas

I Won't Be Home for Christmas is the ninth episode of Season 26. This is the seventeenth Christmas special (with only one short and 16 Christmas episodes) of the series.
==Synopsis==
Marge kicks Homer out of the house after Moe convinces him to stay out all night on Christmas Eve at his tavern. Depressed, Homer takes a lonely walk through Springfield instead of being with his family.
==Full Story==
Comic Book Guy and Kumiko Albertson are watching Cosmic Wars: Holiday Special, with CBG in shock that the special is worse than he remembered, and Kumiko states that he has every right to be ticked off at it.
Elsewhere, Homer plans to fulfill Marge's wish of leaving work on time and arriving home to celebrate Christmas with his family. However, he stops on the way home for a drink at Moe's, and when he says it's time for him to get home Moe convinces him to stay out all night on Christmas Eve when Moe admits to being lonesome and depressed. Homer loses track of time and when he finally gets home, Marge is enraged at Homer and selfishly kicks him out, saying she does not want him in the house on Christmas.
Homer then goes on an odyssey through a deserted and chilly Springfield, with Moe compounding his sadness by avoiding him when Homer shows up to try and talk to him (and to add insult to injury, Homer's car gets towed with his cell phone frozen inside it).
When Marge tells Bart and Lisa she is not inclined to forgive Homer, Moe climbs down the the family's chimney and explains to Marge that he was the reason why Homer was out late on Christmas Eve. Feeling guilty, Marge tries to call Homer, but because he lost his phone, she goes out to look for him. Homer goes to the local movie theater to watch a depressing Life is Beautiful-type of film around other lost souls. After Marge searches through the city and Homer ends up at a depressing party for mall workers, they each have epiphanies: Homer says that being without his family at Christmas is much worse than being with them, and Marge says that she shouldn't always assume Homer is performing stupid achievements for no reasons.. The pair finally reconcile and look forward to a happy new year.
The final scene shows footage of "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner".
==Broadcast History==
===United States===
Broadcast date(s)	Channel aired
*December 7, 2014
*December 21, 2014
*December 27, 2015	
*December 21, 2020
*December 25, 2020	
==Critical Reception==
The episode received an audience of 6.52 million, making it the most watched show on Fox that night.
Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B-, saying "The moderate pleasure to be gleaned from “I Won’t Be Home for Christmas” comes from a show trying to wring some heart and laughs from a quarter-century of well-trod territory. The pleasures aren’t inconsiderable, but they’re effortful."
The episode received a 6.8/10 rating on iMDB.com.
==Citations==
fr:Pas chez soi pour Noël
pl:I Won't Be Home for Christmas
pt:Um Natal Sem Família
Category:Holiday episodes
Category:Episodes in which Homer almost loses Marge
Category:Homer episodes
Category:Marge episodes
Category:Moe episodes
Category:Winter Episodes
Category:Episodes with live action footage
Category:Dramatic episodes
Category:Episodes with a alternative Gracie Films logo
Category:Episodes with alternate end credits
Category:Christmas Episodes
Category:Christmas
Category:Written by Al Jean
Category:Sad episodes
Category:Episodes Where Homer cries
Category:Episodes where Moe Szyslak cries