"Extraordinary Merry Christmas" is the ninth episode and mid-season finale of the third season of the American musical television series Glee, and the fifty-third overall. Written by Marti Noxon and directed by Matthew Morrison (who played Will Schuester), the episode aired on Fox in the United States on December 13, 2011, and features the members of New Directions starring in a black-and-white Christmas television special that is presented within the episode itself.

Of the nine songs featured during the episode, eight had been released a month prior on the series' Christmas Album Volume 2. The episode takes its name from the original song "Extraordinary Merry Christmas", written for Glee by the show's executive music producer Adam Anders, song producer Peer Åström, and Shelly Peiken. The remaining eight songs are covers, and all nine were released as singles. Reviewers generally praised the music in the episode.

Although reviewers were polarized in their views of the episode as a whole, the special within the episode received mostly favorable comments, though the rest of the episode was deemed light on plot. Some aspects of the framing sequences were criticized, such as Rachel's excessive demands for Christmas presents despite the fact that she is Jewish. Upon its initial airing, this episode was viewed by 7.13 million American viewers and garnered a 3.0/8 Nielsen rating/share in the 18–49 demographic. The total viewership was up marginally from the previous episode, "Hold On to Sixteen".

Sue (Jane Lynch) recruits the glee club to sing at a homeless shelter where she will be volunteering to distract her from the first Christmas without her sister Jean, who died earlier in the year. Finn (Cory Monteith) tells Rachel (Lea Michele) that all he wants for Christmas is her. Rachel replies that he is also all she wants, but also gives Finn a long list of Christmas present suggestions. Her dialogue, "All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share" is a verbatim homage to Sally's Christmas list scene with Charlie Brown in the Christmas classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Just as Charlie Brown is with Sally, Finn is appalled by how much Rachel wants, though she assures him that five of the items are enough. When she later hints that an early gift would not be amiss, he surprises her with the donation of a sow in her name to needy Africans. Rachel is unhappy, reminds Finn that she is a vegan, and recommends that he stick to her list to avoid embarrassment, while pointedly mentioning earrings.

New Directions celebrates the holidays as Mercedes (Amber Riley) sings "All I Want For Christmas Is You". Rory (Damian McGinty) dedicates the song "Blue Christmas" to his family; this is his first Christmas away from them. Sam (Chord Overstreet) offers to take Rory home with him to show him a true American Christmas. Glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) announces that New Directions has been asked to create a holiday special for the local PBS station, with Artie (Kevin McHale) as director. The station manager agrees to Artie's concept—a black-and-white homage to both Star Wars Holiday Special and the "Judy Garland Christmas Special", to feature hosts Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) welcoming their friends for suave banter and happy, cheerful songs. Rory will play Itchy the Holiday Elf and recite "Frosty the Snowman". Sam points out that "Frosty" does not have a happy ending, and that a little sadness is also part of Christmas. Artie only wants to present the "merry" part and will be rewriting Frosty to fit, so Sam decides not to participate. Sue interrupts a rehearsal for the show to reconfirm that New Directions will be singing at the homeless shelter on Friday, but the special is also set for Friday. Artie asks to reschedule, but Sue says they are already expected and is adamant: it must be Friday night. The club members decide to do the broadcast, and Sue leaves in disgust.

Kurt and Blaine lead off the Glee Holiday Spectacular by performing "Let It Snow"; Rachel and Mercedes arrive and sing "My Favorite Things" with their hosts; Finn and Puck (Mark Salling) show up as not-quite-real Star Wars characters and perform "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"; and "Christmas Wrapping" is sung by Brittany (Heather Morris), with backup by Santana (Naya Rivera), Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), Mike (Harry Shum, Jr.) and several Cheerios. When Rory as Itchy arrives, the others are dismayed when he says he will not be reading "Frosty the Snowman"; in a second allusion to A Charlie Brown Christmas, he instead reads the biblical nativity story from the Gospel according to Luke.

Quinn (Dianna Agron) and Sam are at the homeless shelter with Sue, helping to serve the rapidly disappearing meal, when New Directions arrives, late, with more food and some presents. The glee club sings "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the people there. Back at McKinley, Rachel has a change of heart and names Finn's gift sow "Barbra". Finn does give her the earrings she wanted, but she ultimately returns them and he returns the iPod she gave him: they donate the money to the Salvation Army kettle manned by Sam and Rory, and stay to help.

The episode is the directorial debut of Glee star Matthew Morrison, who plays Will Schuester. He announced that he would be directing an episode "during an acoustic set and Q&A at LA's Grammy Museum for their Spotlight series" in late September 2011. He ultimately did not direct the eighth episode as originally planned, but this ninth one instead.