I didn't love this ep, but I didn't think it was a stinker either. The parts with Bieste were touching, I thought Sue and Becky as the Grinch and Max was funny. Britney still believing in Santa Claus was believable, and the others trying to keep that belief alive was enough to get a story going to carry the ep.
I guess I don't have the high expectations for this show that others do. I see it as an hour-long sitcom, not a plot-driven drama. The Never Been Kissed episode was a notable exception to that, so much so that I think I'm going to look and see if that ep was written by a different writer. But I still don't hope for more than a few good songs and some corny jokes. My biggest peeve, as was the case with the Christmas ep, is that they are not fitting some of the songs into the story as well as they did the first season.