Rowan Kaiser of '' The A.V. Club '' gave the episode a A – , saying " The entire episode hits that sweet spot between sweet and weird . Even the moment where Chet goes a little crazy and makes a horrifying window display is oddly endearing , thanks to the ketchup bottle squirting ' blood . ' That ’s clever , weird , but also impressive . That ’s '' Bob ’s Burgers '' , and I ’m happy that the show is getting a chance to apply its impressive clever weirdness to the holidays . " Ross Bonaime of '' Paste '' gave the episode 8.5 out of 10 , saying " God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins " is essentially everything you could want from a holiday episode of '' Bob ’s Burgers '' . Chet ’s story of finding mannequin love with Nadine is so ridiculous , yet everyone in the family except Bob finds it to be beautiful . Tina even proclaims it to be the greatest love story ever told . That may not be accurate , but it ’s definitely the weirdest love story you ’re going to find in a holiday TV special . " The episode received a 1.5 rating and was watched by a total of 3.09 million people . This made it the fourth most watched show of Fox 's Animation Domination block that night , beating '' The Cleveland Show '' but losing to '' The Simpsons '' with 3.77 million . The likely reason that this episode was the least-watched upon premiere of any of the episodes of ' Bob 's Burgers ' to date is due to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that had occurred on December 14 , 2012 , two days prior to the episodes ' airing on December 16 , 2012
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins