"HAL’S CHRISTMAS GIFT" Original Air Date 12/19/04
Chapter 605

Broke, Hal and Lois decide the Christmas gifts will all have to be homemade.

Everyone makes a much better gift than what Hal has made. Hiding his crappy gift, Hal spins a bigger and bigger lie about the gift he has for them. They pile into the van. Hal tells them “Where we’re going is a thousand times better than Disneyland!” But Hal has no money.

At the point of no return where they won’t have enough gas to get back home, Hal presses on. At the gas station, Hal tries to "accidentally" injure himself. Unfortunately, the gas station owner doesn’t have any insurance. When Hal hears Malcolm has a credit card, he hugs him, and surreptitiously lifts the card out of Malcolm's wallet. He uses it to buy the family a ski vacation.

Malcolm feels left out of Reese, Dewey and Francis’ fun. They tell him the reason they don’t include him is because he’s a drag, it’s always about him and that occasionally they need a break from him.

At a gas station, Reese and Dewey accidentally knock over some motorcycles. They are about to get their asses kicked when Malcolm steps in and rescues them. “It wasn’t them…”(pointing to a middle-aged man nearby) “…it was that guy!” Malcolm covers.

Malcolm is on good footing until they discover that rather than handmake his gifts, he bought them with a credit card no one knew he had.

Lois gets into a demolition derby with a woman in the mall parking lot. She questions their parenting skills.

Later, Hal explains that if it weren’t for her anger and his recklessness, they wouldn’t be on this amazing ski vacation.

Francis and Piama visit. Francis fakes happiness to conceal the fact that he lost his job at the ranch. Later, Piama remarks that since their vacation, Francis has been happier than she’s ever seen him, and asks him to quit his job.