Supernatural: A Very Supernatural Christmas

Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester are monster-hunting brothers. After their mother was killed when Sam was six months old and Dean was four years old, they and their father, John, have been living on the road and killing evil as they go. Set in season three, “A Very Supernatural Christmas” follows the boys as they investigate a case involving evergreen stakes, peanut brittle and...evil Santa? It’s Christmas Eve and little Stevie can’t wait until Santa comes to bring him presents. Though he doesn’t know it, his grandfather has decided to make it a Christmas to remember and dressed up as the big man himself to treat his grandson. After jingling a bell to alert Stevie to “Santa’s” arrival, Grandpa carefully places gifts under the tree. Thumps on the roof and soot falling from the chimney excite Stevie and confuse Grandpa. As he investigates, Grandpa is grabbed and dragged, kicking and screaming, up the chimney, leaving only a bloody boot behind. A year later, a similar disappearance brings Sam and Dean to Ypsilanti, Michigan. They begin to investigate the possibilities, searching through lore on everything from evil chimney sweeps to, as Dean puts it, “Santa’s shady brother.” As the brothers learn of two more disappearances, the ‘evil Santa’ theory seems less likely and they begin to suspect something, or someone, more powerful is involved. “A Very Supernatural Christmas” is marvelous in its exploration of Christmas mythology, but the highlight is the glimpse it gives of Sam and Dean as children. Several flashbacks to a 12-year-old Dean (Ridge Canipe) and eight-year-old Sam (Colin Ford) reveal just how much the boys mean to each other and what a childhood in the Winchester family was like. Whether by ruining Christmas wreaths forever or by creating a deeper appreciation for the warm and safe holiday celebrations most enjoy, “A Very Supernatural Christmas” will leave viewers seeing Christmas, and the Winchesters, in a new light.