BSC TV #5: The Baby-Sitters' Special Christmas

So yes, the BSC TV episodes are slightly out of order... I saved this one for now since it's Christmas-themed. I remember this episode always made me a bit emotional, but I'm gonna try to hold it together for this recap. Here we go!

Kristin Amanda Thomas (Avriel Hillman) falls in love with a baseball mitt while the BSC is shopping. It's really nice but really expensive, so she asks the nice salesman to hold it for her and he agrees.

The do-gooders of the BSC have decided to throw a Christmas party for some sick kids at a hospital. They're going to bake cookies and have candy but - as diabetic Stacey (Jessica Prunell) reminds them - not all kids can do that.

So they decide to bring a dress-up wardrobe and camera. They don't have time to have their own party, and they're all broke (because how well did baby-sitting pay for eighth graders in 1990?), so they decide to do a BSC Secret Santa so they each only buy a gift for one other person.

It was Mary Anne (Meghan Lahey)'s idea, but Dawn (Melissa Chase) loudly explains how it works as if she invented the concept of Secret Santa. Classic Dawn!

As a Christmas miracle, Mallory (Meghan Andrews) has a good idea to do a gift grab bag for the holiday party. You get one a year, Mal.

Kristy asks her mother for the baseball mitt, which is so expensive she has to whisper the price even though they are presumably alone in their living room. Weirdos. But who cares about the Thomases when JACKIE RODOWSKY'S UP IN THIS MUTHA?!

Y'all know Jackie (Danny Tamberelli) is my fave character in the BSC TV episodes. Danny Tamberelli has been in "The Baby-Sitters Club," "The Adventures of Pete and Pete," and "The Mighty Ducks," so he's basically lived my dream life. Side note: I literally laugh out loud when Jackie's "HA HA HA"s make Shea lose his place in "Jingle Bells" and Jackie defiantly says, "I was just laughing all the way."

Dawn (the health food nut, mind you) blows up Stacey's spot by bringing in a bunch of Christmas cookies for the rowdy Rodowsky boys to devour. Stacey offers to take the cookies to the kitchen, and sneaks one for herself:

Bad girl, Stacey! Your sugars! Dawn is up Stacey's ass about what she's eating because "she worries," lecturing her at the Rodowsky house and while they set up the party.

Stacey tells Dawn "you're not my mother," to which Dawn replies, "I just don't like it when people don't take care of themselves" in a really patronizing way. (Like, is Stacey kind of fucking up? Yes. But don't be so condescending, Dawn.)

"Sometimes I like to be like everybody else," Stacey tells Dawn. "Especially during the holidays."

Kristy meets a wheelchair-bound boy named Ned (Gregory Cook) and they bond over a shared love of baseball. She tells him all about the amazing mitt she's getting for Christmas. After he leaves, Stacey tells her that he parents rarely visit because they both work and don't have a car. Kristy doesn't believe that someone doesn't have a car.

Uh, Kristy, not everyone's stepfather is a millionaire... duh-doy. She is somewhat chastened when Stacey is like, "they don't have much money." YEAH, KRISTY.

Meanwhile, Kristy continues to do chores around the house to earn her mitt. She's actually pretty bad at chores, but at least her mother can see she's trying.

Stacey baby-sits her honorary little sister Charlotte Johanssen (Gina Gallagher) but she's not feeling well so she's supes over it. The rest of the BSC-ers are shopping for their Secret Santa gifts, at the same store, at the same time.

Even Claudia can't pull off that fashion statement. That being said, I 100% owned one of those face mask things after watching this episode for the first time, like, twenty-five years ago.

The gals meet at a luncheonette to exchange Secret Santa gifts and Stacey's gulping water like it's her job. (Dehydration and thirst are symptoms of diabetes. I know this from reading The Baby-Sitters Club.)

Stacey risks the wrath of Dawn by eating a brownie in front of everybody, but everyone's like "CALM DOWN DAWN IT'S CHRISTMAS." Still, Stacey pays for it later...

...when she ends up in the hospital on Christmas, in a hokey nightgown. Dawn somehow resists saying "I told you so" as Stacey explains how she gets so sick of being sick that she pretends she's not.

Finally, it's time for the Christmas party! Jackie Rodowsky remains my favorite by dressing up like Santa.

Charlotte and Jackie? I ship it.

Kristy notices that Ned is not jumping for joy (one, because he can't jump, and two, because he got a snow globe for a gift), and she has a moment of true goodness.

Kristy gives Ned the baseball mitt she worked so hard for and wanted so badly. Ned is understandably touched (though, luckily, not by Mallory - by the gesture).

Then, finally, my queen Stacey shows up at the party.

Everyone gathers for "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and I stealthily wipe away my tears.

Merry Christmas, if that's what you celebrate! And however you celebrate the holidays (or don't), thank you for reading and I hope you have an amazing end of the year!