I've always appreciated how well The Office handles obligatory holiday episodes. Sometimes there's just a nice cold open, like the Halloween episodes. Other times when it would be strange not to have an entire half hour dedicated to the holiday (Christmas), the show weaves typical holiday themes into the episode without feeling like a special that has been entirely divorced from the rest of the series. For this season in particular, that means addressing major plot threads that would otherwise hang over the episode making whatever Christmas-y action feel like an unnecessary distraction. A few times over the course of "Secret Santa" it looked like things just might derail into full-on "Christmas Special" territory, or even worse, but then it veered back on track to be one of better episodes of the season.

I do adore when one of the sideline characters gets to do something new. It was a stroke of genius to have Phyllis playing Santa. This show has always gotten a lot of mileage out of the secret dreams of its characters, so it was both touching and funny to see Phyllis get to live out her lifelong dream of being Jolly Old St. Nick. Of course, Michael felt differently when he waltzed in wearing his own Santa costume. His transformation over the course of the episode was excellent. First Santa, then his own bizarre rendition of Jesus (first a loving preacher, then a depressed purveyor of snark), then finally a casual, defeated manager of a paper company.

Then there was my personal favorite bit of the night: Andy giving Erin, his Secret Santa recipient, the entire Twelve Days of Christmas ("the first eight days are basically 30 birds"). The ill-advised gift threatens to put a permanent rift between DM Scranton's newest love connection, but Andy rescues the romance with a closing segment featuring twelve drummers drumming. It's amazing how his character has evolved from the angry, annoying wannabe clown into a sweet but misguided Don Quixote figure.

There were a lot of nice, little jokes in this episode, too. Dwight having to assemble his gift piece by piece was pretty cool (especially since it ended sweetly) and everyone trying to hook Oscar up with the only other gay guy at the company was funny as a one-off. Also, Creed's concerns about how his outright evils would affect his chances of a good gift were funny as only Creed can be funny.

Of course, the bombshell of the episode had to do with the fate of Dunder-Mifflin according to David Wallace. Long story short, the company is being bought out and the executives are getting the ax, while our scrappy heroes in Scranton all get to keep their jobs because, despite it all, they're the only thing about DM that works. Not a bad Christmas present, all things considered.

Best Moment: Dwight finally finishing his gift. I've always enjoyed his boyish side. It's nice to get a reminder that Dwight isn't really a jerk, he's just an overgrown 12-year-old.

Biggest Laugh: Andy's less successful 12 Days gift montage. Extra points to Ellie Kemper's deadpan delivery of lines like, "The French hens are starting to pull out my hair to make a nest."

Episode Rating: 5/5- This is really the best of The Office. It's a stunning ensemble of extremely funny people, a lot of unexpected twists and a real sense of heart. I usually don't like holiday episodes, but this one was pretty awesome.