The Office Christmas specials wrote that the specials are "as wickedly, painfully funny as the first two seasons and, in tiny, fleeting doses, as delicately tender". The following year it was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie. Gervais and Merchant received a nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. The episodes won in the Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Mini-series & Specials category at the American Television Critics Association Awards. The award was collected by Lucy Davis. The specials appeared at #4 on Channel 4's "100 Greatest Christmas Moments" polls in 2004. The specials
How the Ghosts Stole Christmas [and] classic comedy episodes including, "How The Ghosts Stole Christmas." DVD.net called "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" a "classic" standalone episode. "SFX" named the episode the sixth best "SF [Sci-Fi] & Fantasy Christmas Episodes" and noted that it was full of "classic lines, some neat tricks". Zack Handlen from "The A.V. Club" gave the episode a largely positive review and awarded it a grade of an A. He noted that the episode was written in a similar manner to the earlier, Carter-penned "The Post-Modern Prometheus". Handlen wrote that both entries "have a gleeful, everybody-gets-out-okay-in-the-end vibe". He, however, concluded that the