We’ve had our figgy pudding, listened to Mariah Carey on repeat, and unwrapped all our presents. Christmas might be over, but we’re still in the holiday spirit and Call the Midwife is the gift that keeps on giving. If you missed the 2022 Holiday Special or you’re just the type of person who leaves their decorations up well into January (guilty!) and can’t leave the holidays behind you, we’ve got you covered. A little seasonal gift from us to you… and don’t worry, there are no train crashes this time. (Though we can’t promise you’ll leave this episode dry-eyed.)

Where Are They Now?

This season, the midwives are trying to move forward from the horror of Poplar’s train derailment last winter as they step – and bike – into the holidays. Nancy, Sister Julienne, and Dr. Turner have all recovered from injuries suffered during the accident, and everyone is ready to celebrate. However, with this new chapter also comes change and this episode doesn’t waste time with the big reveals.

Trixie returns from Italy just in time for Christmas with her friends and her beau Matthew, but as soon as she arrives, another midwife says her goodbyes. Sister Hilda leaves Nonnatus House to return to her work at the Mother House without so much as an in-person farewell. In fact, the news travels to the others by phone with a call from Mother Mildred. Yes, she really is gone, and no, we can’t believe it, nor will we ever learn that we should not become emotionally attached to any of the midwives.

Sister Julienne and Sister Frances remain positive that they’ll be able to manage their work in Sister Hilda’s absence, but we’re personally not sure how we’ll cope without our favorite cake baking and party loving midwife. However, there’s no time for tears or questions over the midwife’s departure, and Sister Frances generously offers to take on the extra work Sister Hilda leaves behind in her place. An offer she will soon regret.

Going Home for the Holidays

Despite the hectic nature of the holidays, the women learn to adjust, but Nonnatus House isn’t the only place where Christmas looks a bit different this year. At Holloway Women’s Prison mother-to-be Cindy Dalvert is discharged early following good behavior. ‘Tis the season. She’s eager to spend time with her fiance and the father of her soon to be born baby, but when she arrives at his flat, she discovers Andreas has abandoned her and the excitement of her release quickly wanes. Instead, she’s greeted by a new family that has moved into his home, and discovers that all he’s left behind is a £5 note and a blank holiday card with his signature. Nice.

She has no support and nowhere to stay, but knows she needs to find a place as soon as she can now that she has a little one on the way. Cindy eventually stumbles upon a listing for a flat outside the Buckles’ shop where Reggie comes to her assistance. While the two become acquainted, Reggie observes that Cindy is still dressed in the summer clothes she went to prison in, and is struggling outside in the cold winter evening. Before he can offer her his coat, Cindy is already off.

She eventually finds a place to rent, but can barely afford the rundown flat, which the landlord has even charged her extra for. Cindy’s struggles continue when she later tries to apply for a government maternity grant which would help her prepare for her baby. Sadly, she’s met with prejudice, skepticism over her British citizenship, and a mountain of paperwork.

A Welcome Back to the Mullucks Family

While the expectant mother faces challenges in her new life outside of prison, the midwives assemble for their first clinic at Florence Dean Hall. It’s a busy first day and they’re slightly understaffed, but as always, the group adapts. Even Timothy Turner has joined, donning his white coat just like his father, to care for their patients.

Clinic is brimming with mothers and babies, and the Turners receive a welcome surprise when Rhoda Mullucks shows up for an appointment. It’s a major throwback to Season 5 when the midwives first met the mother, who was having her third at the time. Rhoda is pregnant again with baby number four, and she’s noticeably concerned about her next birth after her daughter Susan suffered limb loss from thalidomide exposure during her last pregnancy.

Though the Mullucks family has learned how to help Susan acclimate to daily activities with her disabilities, the fear of having another child who might be impacted by thalidomide continues to pervade their lives in many ways. Susan has been left out of her Sunday School’s Nativity and though her teacher claims it’s for her own safety, Susan suspects Mrs. Avis doesn’t want the audience to see her.

At home their situation isn’t much better, and the Mullucks struggle to be a united front for their children. The family has been encouraged to settle for thalidomide compensation along with other parents whose children were affected by the drug, but Rhoda and her husband Bernie disagree on the right course of action. Rhoda believes they should stick it out with the other parents to push for more money, while Bernie wants to settle immediately. He feels the financial stress even more following a recent layoff from work, and he also suffers from alcoholism, using it to cope for the guilt he feels for letting Rhoda take thalidomide and for its impact on Susan.

Spreading Some Holiday Cheer

As the Mullucks family faces their own battles, Poplar’s resident Santa Claus and all-around good person, Fred, wants to confront a different issue that has impacted the entire community. He wants to raise money for those who were impacted by the local train crash and provide Christmas spirit to anyone who might still be picking up the pieces. With Violet’s approval, he decides to organize a talent show and recruits Reggie, Cyril, Lucille, and Timothy for help.

Word travels fast around the neighborhood about “Poplartunity Knocks,” and everyone is eager to participate. Reggie looks forward to performing with his guitar and even Miss Higgins has something special prepared up her sleeve: a recorder performance paired with a riveting oral history of the woodwind instrument. We can already imagine how that will go down.

A Christmas Love Story

Though she’s only just returned, Trixie is also choreographing a dance number for the show and has been thrown back into work around Poplar. Luckily, she and Matthew have still been able to spend some much-deserved quality time together following their temporary but long distance romance, and as it turns out, absence indeed does make the heart grow fonder. Soon after Trixie’s arrival, Matthew turns to Nancy to help him with an incredibly important task: finding Trixie’s ring size! When we tell you, we are SCREAMING.

Naturally, as most secrets go around Nonnatus House, it isn’t long before Nancy reveals Matthew’s plans to Phyllis and Phyllis spills the tea to Sister Julienne. Having known Trixie longer than most of the other midwives (shout out to the Season 1 OGs!), Sister Julienne gives Matthew some advice on his proposal. She recommends that he speaks with Trixie about her ring preference first because she knows Trixie wasn’t fond of the ring that Tom proposed to her with in the past. This, of course, is a cause for concern because Matthew has already purchased the ring… and when we tell you it is a ROCK we are not exaggerating.

While Matthew only has an engagement on his mind, at the Mullucks’ home, their worries fall to Susan after she takes a fall in her prosthetic legs and is sent to the hospital for stitches. Dr. Turner reassures Rhoda that what happened to Susan could have happened to any child, but even so, tensions heighten between the members of the Mullucks family following the incident. Rhoda feels like she isn’t doing enough to protect Susan, Bernie continues his visits to the pub, and the two oldest Mullucks children feel neglected by their parents.

The holidays only seem to be bringing on more stress for Rhoda during her pregnancy, but she isn’t the only one who isn’t getting the Merry out of Christmas this year. Cindy’s issues also escalate, and despite anticipating a spring delivery, she goes into labor early with nothing prepared for her baby’s arrival. When her landlord discovers this, rather than calling for a midwife, she forces Cindy to leave. The building has been condemned and she warns that if the Welfare learns about Cindy’s baby, they’ll take it away from her. Kicking out a woman in labor from her home? And we thought Scrooge was bad.

The Three Wise Midwives

Cindy is turned away from every house she tries to go to for help (so much for shared Christmas spirit), and eventually finds herself in the Buckles’ allotment as snow pours down upon her. When her attempt to break into the allotment shed for warmth fails, she cries out for help once more. This time, Phyllis and Miss Higgins, who have been practicing for the talent show nearby, hear her and come to her aid. They bring her into Miss Higgins’ home where Phyllis delivers Cindy’s baby and Sister Julienne later arrives to a happy and comfortable new mom. It’s a Christmas miracle!

The women show her the kindness that, thus far, Cindy hasn’t received since her return to Poplar, and see to it that she and her newborn daughter Melissa have proper care. They take her to Dr. Turner’s maternity home for rest and Miss Higgins even takes it upon herself to help Cindy with all her administrative work. After all, she thrives off organization.

With Miss Higgins’ help, Cindy learns that she’s been approved for an allowance, has been assigned a social worker, and has received a place for long-term stay at a hostel for mothers and babies. The generous act of kindness from both Miss Higgins and Phyllis, who helped her when she needed it most, doesn’t go overlooked.

A Season for Change

As things start to look up for Cindy, the Mullucks are still struggling with complicated family dynamics. Bernie’s condition worsens, and during an evening out, he accidentally leaves Susan’s Christmas gift, a new doll house, out in the snow. Another strike against the already floundering father and husband. By the time he realizes what he’s done, the trash men have already collected it where it lies broken in their truck.

Later, when Bernie learns Rhoda is in labor, he barges into the maternity home unannounced while intoxicated to both Dr. Turner and Rhoda’s surprise. Shelagh swiftly removes him, but Trixie sits with him while he waits. After having suffered through years of alcoholism, she understands all too well what Bernie is going through. She offers Bernie support and resources, but knows the decision to change is ultimately in his hands.

Trixie confides in Matthew later, angered that alcohol has negatively impacted yet another person’s life and frustrated that Susan won’t receive her doll house. Of course, as the outstanding man and gentleman he is (we seriously stan Matthew), Matthew somehow finds a way to bring Bernie a new doll house just in time for Christmas. The kind gesture is met with an emotional reaction from the struggling father and just happens to be the small push Bernie needed to change.

Following the birth of his new baby boy on Christmas Eve, Bernie finally decides to join Trixie at an alcoholics anonymous group where he takes his first steps toward recovery and confronting the thoughts that have plagued him since Susan’s birth. He admits how his worries about Susan’s future consume him and that he hasn’t coped well with how others have treated her because of her condition. So instead, he turned to drinking. But he vows to stop for Susan and for the rest of his family.

Stretched Too Thin

With the arrival of Christmas, work has settled down for most of the midwives as they enjoy their festive celebrations. Yet a call for a delivery comes in and Sister Frances takes the lead to let her secular colleagues enjoy the holiday. Though her patient Gulsan gives birth to her baby without issue, Sister Frances panics when she realizes Gulsan’s placenta hasn’t separated. She gives Gulsan Syntometrine and attempts to do the Crede's maneuver, but to no avail. She bikes to the nearest phone booth to call Lucille for help, but on her way back to Gulsan she falls and seriously injures her shoulder. Even through the pain, however, she remains by Gulsan’s side until Lucille arrives and helps her remove the placenta.

After Sister Frances and Lucille have finished caring for Gulsan and send her to St. Cuthbert’s, Sister Frances also makes a trip to the hospital. When she comes to, she learns that she’s suffered from a double fracture of the humerus and clavicle, which had to be reset under general anesthetic. Sister Julienne is at her bedside and confesses she failed to realize how much work Sister Frances was taking on with Sister Hilda’s gone. She explains that they’ll be working with an agency to bring in someone to replace Sister Hilda, and that they’ll be sending Sister Frances to Chichester for the remainder of her recovery. Losing two nuns in one episode? You have permission to shed more tears… because we definitely are!

Meanwhile, at Nonnatus House, the tree is lit, there’s a roaring, toasty fire, and the others have gathered together where they’re having a much better time than Sister Frances. Perhaps encouraged by the cheerful ambiance, Matthew attempts to propose to Trixie Christmas night, but he’s thwarted by Shelagh who interrupts him to let him know his son Jonty has gotten sick all over Sister Monica Joan. His evening isn’t exactly worse than Sister Frances’ but it’s certainly not ideal.

Poplartunity Knocks!

Christmas comes and goes, but the spirit of the holidays continues as Poplar gets ready for the big show Fred has planned to end the year. Let’s just say it’s full of acts both talented and… enthusiastic. Matthew and Nancy sing a duet of Frank and Nancy Sintra’s “Somethin’ Stupid,” Miss Higgins subdues the crowd with a mellow and somewhat unpopular recorder performance with narration from Phyllis, and Reggie performs a solo on his guitar with a little encouragement from Cindy.

To conclude the show, Angela, Teddy, May and Susan lead the crowd in a sing-a-long of “Frosty the Snowman” complete with snowman costumes and extraordinarily proud parents watching them from the audience. Who needs the Sunday School Nativity anyway?

Poplartunity Knocks is a huge success, bringing the community a whole lot of cheer and contributing to the Train Crash Relief fund through its ticket sales. While it’s the gift that Poplar needed, there’s one final present in store for one of our own. We obviously couldn’t forget that near-proposal.

A Holiday Engagement

Finally alone after all of the festivities, Matthew takes Trixie on a walk where he hopes to pop the question. The big one. No unexpected deliveries, no sick children, and no meddling friends to disturb them. With the Thames and the lights of London as their backdrop for a romantic winter stroll, Matthew finally gets down on one knee and proposes. Despite all of his nerves and doubts over Trixie’s answer, he’s thrilled (as are we) when Trixie says yes to a future and forever with him. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for as Trixie gets all the happiness and love she deserves, and it’s the perfect way to *ring* in the New Year.

Forgot how we got here? Catch up on “Call the Midwife” with the Season 11, Episode 8 GIF Recap.