Episode #107 "Just Another Normal Christmas"

Robbie's complaining that they haven't decorated their house with the elaborate Christmas lights that their other neighbors have. Pamela says that any extra lights he can find he can put up outside any way he wants. Joan arrives and announces that the church is dedicating a pew to the Gamble family; she's thrilled. Joan asks Pamela if she'll write the family's Christmas letter this year. Joan says that most of the letter can be about the pew, but Bill asks that she also mention his Southside Poker Club. Later, when Pamela's moaning about the task that Joan's assigned her, Butch suggests that the letter's an excellent opportunity to let everyone know he's gay. It would be good for it to be out in the open at last. Robbie wastes no time in putting up some decorations that he's scavenged around the neighborhood. Bill and Joan, having read the letter, enter in a fury. Pamela's "x-rated" letter went to Reverend Burns, and now they're not getting the pew. Bill demands that Butch do whatever necessary to get the pew back. Butch calls on Reverend Burns and learns that the problem was not his being gay but rather Bill's involvement in the poker club. Some of the members, Reverend Burns confides, are involved in highly questionable activities. Pamela and Butch can't fathom what the old guys in the poker club could be up to. Robbie proudly announces that his lighting and decorating efforts have been written up in the newspaper. Charlie and Butch decide to drop in on the poker club; they're meeting in Bill's and Joan's basement, so it's a great chance to find out what's going on. It takes on seconds for Bill and Charlie to realize that the old guys are smoking pot. They're in a room of seventy-year-old stoners. Bill introduces everyone and tells Butch and Charlie that one of the members, Stanley, has glaucoma, so the pot's totally on the up and up. What Butch really can't believe is that his dad's actually being nice to him; the pot smoking definitely has an up side. When Butch reports the news to Pamela, she asks if Butch put an end to the pot smoking so Joan can get her pew. Butch asks how he can stop his dad from doing something that actually makes him act like a nice guy. Robbie has covered every available spot on the house with lights; Kimberly complains that Robbie has turned the place into a white trash Vegas. Butch bites the bullet and explains the church pew problem to Bill; the guys can play poker without smoking pot, Butch tells his dad. All it takes is a little will power. It's easier said than done, so a compromise is reached. The guys will stage a "clean" poker game and ask Reverend Burns to join them. But the evening is so boring without the pot that the old guys all sneak upstairs to smoke, while Butch and Pamela try to entertain Reverend Burns. Robbie holds an official house lighting complete with media coverage, and Reverend Burns decides to give the family back their pew.