on December 9, 2010. The episode received 3.7/10 percent share among adults between the ages of 18–49 according to Nielsen ratings. This means that 3.7 percent of all households with an 18- to 49-year-old living in it watched the episode, and ten percent had their televisions tuned to the channel at any point. The episode was watched by 7.18 million viewers, dropping in viewers from the previous week, although ratings were adjusted down due to a local NFL game broadcast in Indianapolis and Nashville. Despite this, the episode was the highest-rated NBC series of the night that it aired. This episode received mostly positive reviews. James Poniewozik of Time magazine said, Classy Christmas' may not have been one of the show's most hilarious episodes ever, but it did recall the best era of the show, when it was able to deliver with storylines that were as much drama as comedy." He also said that "it was an initially good payment". TV Fanatic's Dan Forcella said that "Classy Christmas" was an enjoyable episode and "watching Jim suffer as Dwight jumped out of a snowman and pummeled him with snow ball after snow ball was absolutely hilarious." Despite this, he also said it was not as good as the second season episode "Christmas Party". IGN writer Matt Fowler named it the third best Christmas episode of the series calling it a "good episode, with a sweet ending". Alan Sepinwall of HitFix called the episode "another standout holiday episode", and applauded the return of Holly, calling her "welcome". He enjoyed the episode largely because it was full of "darkness"; he noted that "I like when The Office aims for something non-comic, so long as it takes its characters seriously, which it did here." Sepinwall also complimented the subplot featuring Jim being terrorized by Dwight, applauding both Kaling's writing and Wilson's directing. Bonnie Stiernberg of Paste magazine argued that the reappearance of Holly—a signal that Steve Carell's exit was approaching—"gifted [the viewers] with some of the show's best writing in a long time." Myles McNutt of The A.V. Club gave it a slightly more critical review, awarded it a "B". He compared the episode the third season episode "A Benihana Christmas", writing that "both deal with Michael’s heart being broken and the somewhat self-destructive ways he deals with it." However, he felt that the episode "struggles greatly if you have no emotional connection to