[7.7/10] This is easily the best of the Garfield holiday specials in my book. I don’t necessarily go to Garfield for sentimentality, but there’s something about the bond between Garfield and Grandma that just warms your heart. Something about the cantankerous spirit of Grandma mixed with the wry wit of Garfield makes for a winning holiday cocktail.

As you get older, the holidays become a little more wistful. You have more memories, and the parts that are missing, the parts that are hard, become a little more potent. So there’s something about Grandma sitting in her rocking chair, petting our favorite cartoon feline, reminiscing about her dearly departed husband, that is both lovely and poignant. Sincerity is not necessarily where these (often loony) special go, but in that moment in particular, *A Garfield Christmas* pulls it off well.

The grace note is touching as well, with Garfield accidentally finding some of Grandma’s old love letters with grandpa and gifting them to her on Xmas Day. It’s a touch treacly, but the special cuts through it nicely with Grandma’s sass about not sharing the details. Truth to be told, I could probably do without Garfield’s “It’s about the loving” pronouncement, but if there’s a place to be overly sentimental, it’s Xmas specials, and Lorenzo Music delivers the line well.

Plus hey, the mini-plot with Odie is really pleasant! The show strings the audience along over the mystery of what the pup is doing with all these odds and ends quite well. The reveal that it’s a backscratcher for pets is not just a clever reveal, but leads to some great animation with Odie and Garfield making use of it in exaggerated fashion. And Garfield hugging his erstwhile nemesis and telling the pup that now and again he’s “something special” may be the sweetest moment in the whole episode.

As if often the case for the Garfield specials, much of the humor veers between being tame and being broad. I don’t know that we truly needed all the bonks on the head for Doc Boy or the chili gravy feud between Mom and Grandma. But as my wife pointed out, the special captures that weird sort of return to childhood that happens when adult children return home for the holidays, and the goofy family traditions that follow in their wake. The bits and bobs on Jon’s family traditions are charming in their quirkiness, even if there’s not a ton of belly laughs here.

The few there are come from Garfield’s sardonic witticisms as always. If there’s a consistently good thing across all the holiday specials, it’s that. But Grandma’s spunky tone deserves some credit. And something about the whole family getting Dad to read the Binky the Clown story is just silly enough to be entertaining.

Otherwise, while the art style here is nothing to write home about (good lord front-facing Jon is terrifying), the animators do show off here and there, with some neat lighting when Garfield is sitting on Grandma’s lap, a cozy scene with Garfield and Odie curled up in front of the fire, and some nice landscape shots of the family farm.

Overall, this is the warmest, most earnest, and all around best of the Garfield holiday specials there is. It’s well worth adding to your holiday rotation.