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"Dear Sis" is the second Christmas episode of the CBS sitcom M*A*S*H, aired as the fourteenth episode of the show's seventh season.

Synopsis[]

At a sadly typical 10am Sunday Mass (still a complete goose egg attendance-wise at 11:30), Father Mulcahy writes his sister, Katherine, briefly lamenting her order's loss of a nun with a terrific hook shot in basketball. Recognizing that Christmas will be long past by the time Army mail delivers his message, Mulcahy can only speak of his present-day, which consists of trying to gain some Christmas cheer amidst pre-Christmas truce amping up of battles and the resulting wounded. Mulcahy is feeling less than effective, which is accentuated in OR when a soldier frightened of being sedated grabs him in a headlock. While the Padre believes he is talking the soldier down, he is in fact serving as a distraction so that Margaret can sedate him without his knowledge. Collecting for Sister Theresa's orphanage is a mixed bag; Potter, Pierce and Hunnicutt give from the heart, but Winchester snarkily turns the request down, even proclaiming the cruelty of raising the hopes of children who have nothing. Radar hurriedly grabs the Padre, wishing a blessing for his mother's pregnant cow; but even this small purpose is usurped when the cow delivers breach, causing Radar to turn to the incredulous Winchester to aid his mother's efforts to save the newborn calf.

Feeling his usefulness at an ebb, Mulcahy plays barkeep at the Officers' Club, only to find himself in a tug of war between Margaret and Klinger, both depressed and seeking comfort as their exes weigh upon their attempts at holiday cheer--amidst not a few glasses of booze. During yet another rush of wounded, Mulcahy is called away from his one sure duty--giving last rites to the dying--to help Margaret calm a wounded soldier who briskly demands a doctor's immediate attention. When the soldier lashes out at the pair, Mulcahy responds instinctively to the assault and punches the man in the face. Instantly horrified by what he did, the Padre finds only taunts and sneers as he tries to apologize to the soldier. Outside Post-Op, Hawkeye finds himself comforting the chaplain and urging him to forgive himself, also empathizing for his feelings of uselessness, citing it as a miracle that the perpetual ugliness of what they face daily hasn't destroyed them all.

As the big day approaches, Potter finds himself toasting another promise of homefront Christmas falling by the wayside and trying his best to break his senior staff out of what Hawkeye calls a "good-old fashioned Christmas depression". In the mess tent, they all begin to feel some small joy; B.J. as Santa (failing to hide his beloved moustache under the white beard) brings a bag of presents to be exchanged. Radar is the subject of friendly jibes when it is learned Potter gave him his grandson's old pajamas for Radar's teddy bear. As gifts are opened, Radar guides a reluctant Winchester to a gift marked off for the Major; it turns out to be Winchester's own toboggan cap, sent by his mother at Radar's request and at the Padre's suggestion. An exultant overjoyed Winchester immediately pries open his wallet and his heart at this reminder of better times and happier places. He still manages however, to pay the Padre a somewhat mixed compliment.

Hawkeye assembles the room in a heartfelt toast to Father Mulcahy, and makes a slight apology for not showing up on Sundays, before leading the room in a chorus of "Dona Nobis Pascem" ("Give Us Peace"). A light snow outside actually lends the dingy camp a touch of Christmas cheer. An ambulance bearing victims of a broken Christmas truce promptly shows itself, prompting the staff to duty, and at their side is a simple man of God who now knows he is trying his best, which is all anyone can ever do.

Gallery[]

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External links[]

20th Century
Movies
Miracle on 34th Street (1955 remake) (1973 remake) (1994 remake) • Die HardDie Hard 2Home AloneHome Alone 2: Lost in New YorkGeorge Balanchine's The NutcrackerTrapped in ParadiseJingle All the WayHome Alone 4The Family StoneDeck the Halls12 Men of ChristmasHome Alone: The Holiday HeistJingle All the Way 2Home Sweet Home Alone
Television episodes and specials
20th Television
M*A*S*H "Dear Dad" • "Dear Sis" • "Death Takes a Holiday" • "All About Christmas Eve"
Tracey Ullman "Santa Baby" • "Kay's Gift" • "Merry Catnip"
The X Files "Christmas Carol" • "Emily" • "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas"
Malcolm in the Middle "Christmas" • "Christmas Trees" • "Pearl Harbor" • "Hal's Christmas Gift
Bones "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" • "The Santa in the Slush" • "The Goop on the Girl"
How I Met Your Mother "How Lily Stole Christmas" • "Little Minnesota" • "False Positive" • "Symphony of Illumination" • "The Over-Correction" • "The Final Page, Part 1" • "The Final Page, Part 2"
Glee "A Very Glee Christmas" • "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" • "Glee, Actually" • "Previously Unaired Christmas"
New Girl "The 23rd" • "Santa" • "LAXmas" • "Christmas Eve Eve"
The Mindy Project "Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party" • "Christmas Party Sex Trap" • "Christmas" • "When Mindy Met Danny"
Last Man Standing "Last Christmas Standing" • "Putting a Hit on Christmas" • "Elfie" • "Wedding Planning" • "Gift of the Wise Man"
Other shows "Christmas Story" • "The Worst Noel" • "Haus Arrest" • "Amends" • "Blue Christmas" • "A Christmas Story" • "Cookies for Santa" • "In God We Trust" • "Road to Tradition" • "Afternoon Delight" • "Christmas" • "The Glitch That Stole Christmas" • "Secret Santa"
20th Television Animation
The Simpsons "Simpson Christmas" • "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" • "Marge Be Not Proud" • "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" • "Grift of the Magi" • "Skinner's Sense of Snow" • "She of Little Faith" • "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" • "Simpson Christmas Stories" • "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" • "The Fight Before Christmas" • "Holidays of Future Passed" • "White Christmas Blues" • "I Won't Be Home for Christmas • "The Nightmare After Krustmas" • "'Tis the 30th Season" • "Bobby, It's Cold Outside" • "The Way of The Dog" • "A Springfield Summer Christmas for Christmas" • "Manger Things" • Feliz Navidad
King of the Hill "The Unbearable Blindness of Laying" • "Pretty, Pretty Dresses" • "Hillennium" • "'Twas the Nut Before Christmas" • "The Father, the Son, and J.C." • "Livin' on Reds, Vitamin C and Propane" • "Ms. Wakefield"
Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas" • "The Best Christmas Story Never" • "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" • "Rapture's Delight" • "A Cleveland Brown Christmas" • "Road to the North Pole" • "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls" • "Murray Christmas" • "Season's Beatings" • "Die Semi-Hard" • "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" • "'Tis the Cleveland To Be Sorry" • "Minstrel Krampus" • "Christmas Guy" • "Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas" • "The 2000-Year-Old Virgin" • "How the Griffin Stole Christmas" • "Ninety North, Zero West" • "Gifted Me Liberty" • "Don't Be a Dickens At Christmas" • "Santa, Schmanta" • "Christmas is Coming" • "Yule. Tide. Repeat." • "The First No L" • "Christmas Crime" • "The Return of the King (of Queens)"
Futurama "Xmas Story" • "A Tale of Two Santas" • "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" • "I Know What You Did Next Xmas"
Bob's Burgers "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins" • "Christmas in the Car" • "Father of the Bob" • "Nice-Capades" • "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left" • "The Bleakening" • "Better Off Sled" • "Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas" • "Yachty or Nice" • "Gene's Christmas Break" • "The Plight Before Christmas" • "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas"
Other cartoons "Hook's Christmas" • "A Christmas Surprise for Mrs. Stillman" • Olive, the Other ReindeerIce Age: A Mammoth Christmas • "The War on Grafelnik" • "Miracle on Culpepper Slims Boulevard" • "A Very Solar Holiday Opposites Special" • "Dip the Halls Adventure" • "Xmas with The Skanks Adventure"
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