Plot

It's Christmas Eve in Springfield and it's not a very peaceful one, at least not for everyone in town. Mike is in a nursing home in Wisconsin investigating for Ross, one elderly Mrs. MacKenzie. Mrs. MacKenzie's doctor assures Mike that she is not able to speak after her stroke, but suddenly she does speak and says the name Todd (the same last name as Ross' troubled fiancée Carrie). Meanwhile, Alan and Hope are at home awaiting the time when Alan will have to be carted off to prison for his role in covering up the whereabouts a few years back of the fugitive Roger Thorpe. Ross pays Alan and Hope a visit, and informs them that Mike is doing some "legwork" for him in Wisconsin. This gets Hope to let Alan take her and Alan-Michael to Bert's Christmas party that evening, something Alan was reluctant to do when it looked as though Mike would be there as well. Hillary, at Cedars, is flabbergasted when Josh tries to make a pass, not only to the married Morgan Richards Nelson, but also at her. Josh also makes a dig at Derek when he states that Derek doesn't have a firm grip on his fiancée, Hillary. Hillary tells Josh in no uncertain terms that Derek doesn't think that way, that Hillary is "HIS" woman. Katie and Morgan are no help when it comes to helping Tony Reardon set up the Christmas tree for the party in the children's wing later in the afternoon. Morgan and Kelly get some very brief alone time when they run into each other in the children's wing. Mrs. Renfield pays Tony and Bea a rather strange visit, where Mrs. Renfield tells them that Nola and Quint will be coming home, from San Francisco, later that evening and then takes two very full sips of Tony's bottle of sherry. Mrs. Renfield also surprises Tony with all of her questions about one of his two bosses, Vanessa Chamberlain. Carrie, after being released from Cedars' mental ward after her recent suicide attempt after admitting that she was the one who killed Diane Ballard and Joe Bradley back in September, is staying at Ross' brother, Justin and Ross' sister-in-law, Jackie's house. Jackie tells Ross, and later Justin and Phillip, that Carrie is refusing to leave her room to join them for Christmas festivities. Jackie then finds Carrie hovering over baby Samantha, and is confused when Carrie tells Jackie that she wishes she could start all over again like the innocent Samantha. Mike calls Ross and informs him that over the last couple of years, Mrs. MacKenzie had two visitors, one was Diane Ballard who wrote a substantial check for Mrs. MacKenzie's care, the other was Carrie who violently tore up the check Diane wrote for Mrs. MacKenzie's care and then paid for the care herself. This leaves more of a mystery for Ross about Carrie's past and how to continue with her defense. Later in the afternoon, Derek pays a visit to Hillary at Cedars and informs her that he will have to pick her up later to go to Bert's, because he's been very busy with Mike out of town. Derek also sees Vanessa and Ed at the hospital and it's obvious to anyone but Ed that there is something Vanessa is hiding that Derek knows about as her financial advisor. Kelly, Morgan, Katie, Trish and Tony are thrown for a loop when the Santa Claus at the children's party turns out to be none other than Josh! Kelly and Morgan sing Christmas carols at the children's party. At the Marler's, Mike returns to town earlier than expected and Phillip surprisingly asks Mike for his forgiveness for being so harsh on Mike when Mike was involved with Elizabeth. Mike says he forgives Phillip, and then tells Ross and Jackie and Justin that he had also found out that Mrs. MacKenzie's son was a Todd MacKenzie who had worked at the same advertising agency as Diane Ballard in Milwaukee. Carrie overhears Mike say this, and sneaks out of the house and runs a way, with only Jackie finding out later that Carrie is missing. At Bert's house the festivities are in full swing. When Mike surprisingly shows up, Alan gets nervous, but Mike happily tells Alan and Hope he will put their differences aside for this one evening. Derek, Hillary, Morgan, Kelly, Katie, Tony and Tim all discuss the odd behavior of Josh. Mike and Trish kiss under the mistletoe. Freddy returns home from Lincoln Prep and informs Ed he isn't too thrilled that he's seeing Vanessa. Bert gets Sara and Mike to lead everyone in singing Christmas carols. In this episode Vanessa was played by Anna Stuart. In this episode Bea first mentions that Maureen will be coming home to Springfield, but she couldn't get home for Christmas Eve. In this episode Tony mentions that the sherry was a present from a "Mr. Santos" to Vanessa and Trish for the restaurant, whether this might have been the Miguel Santos that would be part of past storyline for Carmen Santos in the late 1990's and early 2000's is not known.—Kevin Smirlin