Characters
Drinking, crying, cops, well it must be Christmas.
— Ryan • The O.C.
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
A sardonic list of holiday ingredients: drinking, crying and police involvement add up, so it must be Christmas. The joke turns festive expectations upside down, implying the season reliably brings mess and drama rather than cozy cheer, and the deadpan "well" makes the conclusion feel wearily inevitable.
Context reviewed