This year, I’ve taken some time out to watch Christmas episodes of shows I’m pretty unfamiliar with. This is yet another one of those posts, only with this show I did make an attempt to get into it. A mild one. We Bare Bears is a show created by Daniel Chong that aired on Cartoon Network from July 2015 to May 2019. That’s a nice overlap with my early years of parenthood and I often found this show about three bear brothers playing in the evening hours. I tried to see if I could get my kids into it as I wanted to spend some time at the end of the day watching TV with them as my parents had done with me. It feels like there can be a negative stigma about a family sitting around the TV tuning each other out, but I always found it to be more collaborative and it’s really enjoyable when everyone can enjoy the show. That part can be challenging when you’re trying to appease toddlers and adults, but it can be done. Unfortunately, We Bare Bears did not become that show for my family and I, but I don’t blame the show for that.

We Bare Bears is essentially a show about fitting in. The main characters of Grizzly, Panda, and Ice Bear are obviously bears who live mostly like regular bears. They are anthropomorphized to a degree as they talk and walk upright, but they’re still bears living in a predominantly human world. They have some animal instincts, and a bit like a teenager first setting out, there’s an excitement for the bears whenever they uncover something new to them. It’s a digitally animated show, but one that’s in 2D with an emphasis made to have the show resemble a water colors production. It animates pretty well from what little I have seen and also has a solid cast of voice actors to bring the characters to life. Episodes for the show are about 11 minutes, and while there seems to be plenty of episodes where the bears learn a lesson of some kind, the show is predominantly a comedy where the humor is situation-based as opposed to one that relies on one-liners or non-sequiturs. The bears each have their own distinct personality and they, for some reason, travel in a stack with Ice Bear on the bottom and Grizzly on the top and Panda situated in the middle.

During the show’s second season it was decided that Christmas would be a topic. “Christmas Parties” is an episode about social obligations and how to manage them. It’s also an episode about acknowledging who your real friends are and making sure they feel loved and appreciated and Christmas is a pretty good time of year for such reassurance. It’s not the only Christmas episode for this show, but it is the first, and its simple premise attracted me to it. If I like it, maybe I’ll bring the bears back next year with a look at one of their other Christmas episodes.

The episode begins in the den of the bears. A festive yule log is on display and the music of “Oh Tannenbaum” is softly playing. It sounds very similar to the Vince Guaraldi trio version from A Charlie Brown Christmas, but I don’t know if it’s that exact recording or not. A tell-tale triangle image pops up indicating this is an online video of some kind. Panda (Bobby Moynihan) presses play and the video restarts. He’s seated on the couch sipping a hot beverage while Grizzly (Eric Edelstein) is doing some holiday decorating. Both look nice and festive as Grizz is sporting a Santa hat and Panda a scarf. Grizz is having some issues hanging the stockings and Panda offers up some vegan nogg, which contains no eggs, but an abundance of nogg! Grizz politely declines and then a pounding of the door indicates the arrival of Ice Bear (Demetri Martin) who has returned with the Christmas tree. It’s massive, and when Panda points this out Ice Bear dismisses him with an “Ice Bear’s motto: go big or go home,” but, he is home?

The tree discussion is interrupted by the mailman who has to shove the mail through the tree clogging the door. The bears are excited to find invitations to not one, not two, but three separate Christmas parties! Panda is particularly happy as they usually just stay home and eat, but now they have a place to be! As they look over the invites, an email from Nom Nom comes through. The bears are perplexed at this development as apparently they do not see eye-to-eye with the famous koala, but it’s yet another invite to a Christmas party! And since Nom Nom is some big shot influencer type, it’s looking like it’s going to be the party to end all parties. The capper being that every guest gets a free puppy! It’s just like Bridesmaids! The only solution to this sudden predicament is for the bears to go to all four parties tonight setting a timer for each one so they don’t miss Nom Nom’s. Grizz is pretty stoked as the bears set out to try to pull this thing off.

Up first is Ranger Tabes (Cameron Esposito) who is hosting a party for the bears and the other rangers at the ranger outpost. When the bears arrive, they find a very excited and enthusiastic Tabes, but no one else present appears to share in her excitement. There’s a fellow female ranger eating some snacks, an old guy sleeping in a recliner, and a bearded fellow sipping a beverage who at least acknowledges the bears upon entering by raising his cup. Tabes is excited the bears have arrived so that they can help liven things up. Her solution? Limbo! They break out a candy cane patterned pole and get everyone on their feet, including the sleeping guy, with some tunes from a boom box. Things were getting pretty intense, but then Panda’s alarm goes off. Time for the bears to run though Tabes can hardly believe they’re bailing already. As they rush out, the boom box gets knocked over and the spicy limbo music is accidentally switched to “Silent Night” and the party is back to being lame.

Up next is a party at Charlie’s house. Charlie (Jason Lee) is the local big foot who has decorated a large tree for his party. The bears come upon it and aren’t sure where the party is, until Charlie pops out of the tree to tell them it’s inside! The bears climb inside and are pretty confused why Charlie would have a party in an actual tree. Charlie seems to think it’s the only place you can have a proper Christmas party and his cheerful demeanor is not at all insulted. Charlie then points out how his party is plenty traditional because he has everything needed for a traditional Christmas party. He’s got cards (two squirrels playing Poker or a similar game) stockings hung with care (underwear full of rodents), reindeer (a deer clinging to a branch for “dear” life while Charlie pours water over its head) and food which is eggs with the word “Nogg” written on them. What Charlie doesn’t have, and needs help finding, is a star for the tree. He starts rummaging through a box of junk and seems to settle on a fractured doll head which would make a mighty creepy tree topper. Before they can get too far into this exercise, Panda’s alarm goes off and they have to go. Charlie seems sad, but the alarm knows when it’s time to go. They leave, but Ice Bear at least remembers to thank the sasquatch for the eggnog.

The next party is the home of Chloe Park and the bears are already behind schedule as it took them too long to get out of that tree. Chloe (Charlyne Yi) is a young, Korean, girl though she and her family aren’t drawn in a way that makes them look obviously Korean. She welcomes them into the home and the bears have to have their paws inspected before entering since they don’t wear shoes they can remove. Chloe is enthusiastic, like Tabes and Charlie before her, to have the bears over for Christmas and she leads them into the dining room where her family has gathered for Christmas dinner. They’re having what I assume is a traditional Korean dinner and are seated on pillows at a low table covered with delicious looking food. The bears look immediately distressed knowing they don’t have time to stay for dinner, but Chloe is insistent that they join her family at the table. Jon (Bert Youn), Chloe’s cousin, is immediately amused to see real bears as they try to fit under the table. The table gets jostled around prompting the others to look a little concerned, except Jon who laughs and points out their size. Chloe shushes him and tells the bears to ignore him.

Chloe’s dad (Jinkoo Jeong) then sets down the turkey and encourages everyone to start. Grizz and the other bears are clearly at a crisis here because the food looks so good, but they know they have to leave in order to make it to Nom Nom’s party. And sure enough, the alarm does go off. The bears try to excuse themselves, but Chloe tells them not to be ridiculous on account of the fact that they just got there. Chloe’s grandmother then tries putting items on Panda’s plate while Chloe force-feeds Grizz. Jon takes a moment to ask Ice Bear what baby seals taste like. He doesn’t offer a response, but does not appear amused by the question. Chloe’s grandma then starts putting meat items on Panda’s plate which causes him to freak out a little since he’s a vegetarian, but when he points that out she just replies with “Yes.” Panda’s alarm goes off again, and now they really feel like they need to leave. The bears awkwardly rise from the table, but in the process accidentally flip it over spilling all of the contents on the carpet. They look supremely embarrassed and offer apologies, but Chloe is clearly upset while the rest of the adults seem too shocked to respond, except Jon who laughs. The bears then try to help clean up, but Chloe tells them to just go. Her parents try to reassure them everything is fine as they awkwardly make their way out. Jon calls after them “Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!”

The bears are making their way to Nom Nom’s residence and Panda seems pretty down. Grizz tries to raise the spirits of his brothers by dismissing what happened at Chloe’s as just an “off” party. They arrive at Nom Nom’s and it’s a massive house up on a hill. They enter to find an elaborately decorated rave that even Ice Bear has to admit is pretty impressive. There’s still some puppies left too, but as the bears walk through the room they get Nom Nom’s (Patton Oswalt) attention. Apparently, they weren’t supposed to be invited and Nom Nom has no problems letting them know they’re unwanted. He also fires his event coordinator and begins laying into the bears, but finds he’s on camera. This must be getting livestreamed or something and Nom Nom screaming at some bears would not be a good look for him as he changes his tone. He tries to make friends with the bears and even hands them a puppy, but once the camera is off he demands they get out!

Outside, the bears are alone with their thoughts and their newly acquired puppy, who appears to be a german shepherd or something. They realize the obvious in that by prioritizing the hip party thrown by the guy they don’t even like they ended up hurting the people they care about the most. Grizz rises up and says he has an idea, and we spring forth into a montage! First, we see the bears all stacked up and running through the night each wearing festive attire including Ice Bear who now has reindeer antlers. They first arrive at the ranger station and leave a gift for Tabes on the front porch. It’s full of holes and that’s for a good reason as the box jumps out of her hands and the puppy the bears got at Nom Nom’s emerges. He’s someone that can match her energy and she’s delighted by the gift and the two immediately start playing.

Next is Charlie’s tree where the bears leave a box for him to find. He opens and inside is the Nom Nom-shaped tree topper from the party only they scribbled over Nom Nom’s face. Charlie looks excited to have a star for his tree and it cuts to him removing the creepy doll head from the top of the tree and replacing it with…the box the star was in. No matter, as he seems pretty happy to have a cardboard box over the top of his tree.

Last, and definitely not least, is Chloe’s house. Now it’s Christmas morning, and Chloe has come downstairs rubbing her eyes roused from her slumber by an enchanting aroma. A feast has been set out and the family is most confused. Naturally, that’s because it was prepared by the bears who welcome them all to the table for Christmas dinner…or breakfast. There’s a turkey, so it’s a bit confusing, but the gesture is sweet. Grizz apologizes for what happened last night and the family rushes over with excitement, except Chloe who looks shocked. Ice Bear then hands her what he deems a peace offering and it looks like a pastry of some kind. Chloe accepts it with a smile while Grizz reiterates that they’re sorry for last night and that they just want Chloe to know that they really care about her. Throughout all of this, the Guaraldi “Oh Tannenabum” is playing once again which adds to the sweet mood. The family, and the bears, all gather around the table and the soft chatter of a family enjoying a meal together takes us out.

Well that was certainly a sweet little Christmas episode. I don’t know a lot about this show, but I do know that I liked that. It was a simple setup in that the main characters had too many places to be at once and spread themselves too thin in the process. It wasn’t quite that simple, because they clearly have no love for Nom Nom and yet they prioritized attending his party (where they weren’t even welcome, it turns out) for superficial reasons and in the process hurt the feelings of their true friends. They probably could have visited Tabes and Charlie letting them know they were also expected for dinner at the Park residence and it would have worked out fine. Christmas is busy and hectic, after all, and it’s a problem faced by many each year. Instead though, they really short-changed them and then made a disaster of a scene at Chloe’s house. The awkwardness that follows the bears flipping the table is most uncomfortable. I looked at that table and tried to imagine the amount of hours that went into that meal that’s now completely ruined and winced a bit. Talk about a nightmare scenario. I wonder how the Parks spent Christmas Eve following the departure of the bears? Cleaning. Lots of cleaning.

The bears clearly screwed up, but did manage to set things right in the end while seeming genuinely remorseful. It helps that they come across as likable characters that just got their priorities messed up temporarily. It’s fun that the show doesn’t ignore that they’re actual bears in a human world and the reactions from Jon were possibly the most amusing parts of the episode. There were other moments of humor, but it’s sort of a quiet humor. It’s not in your face, but it is pleasant and effective. That’s the word I keep coming back to with this special: pleasant. I smiled when I was supposed to, I felt sad when Chloe was clearly hurt, and the final scene brought about some happy tears. It’s just a nice, wholesome, Christmas episode of a show that I should probably spend some more time with.

If you would like to view this episode of We Bare Bears the easiest way to do so is via the Max streaming platform, which I must say I’ve been able to get a lot of use from this holiday season. There’s still time to just drop a few bucks on a month-long sub if you don’t have one and there’s certainly enough Christmas content alone to get your money’s worth. Not that I want to be a shill for a giant corporation, but at least it has its uses. This episode might also see an airing on Cartoon Network at some point, if it hasn’t already, as this show hasn’t been completely banished from the air waves as far as I can tell despite ending years ago. If you couldn’t tell, I think this is worth tracking down and it’s the rare 11 minute short that I actually wouldn’t mind spending a bit more time with.