Home For Christmas (Benson)

Home For Christmas is the second and final Christmas episode of the Robert Guilliame sitcom Benson, aired in the show's sixth season.

Overwhelmed by his responsibilities as Lieutenant Governor and as the centerpiece of his family's lives at the Governor's Mansion, Benson Dubois trips and falls having a dream/vision of his late mother. An exhausted Benson tells her he'd like nothing better than to stay where she now is, thinking the others no longer really need him.

His mother's spirit then shows Benson what the lives of his family at the Mansion would become were he to pass on at this point in time. Sarcastic as ever, Benson comments to his mother how much this resembles an old movie he saw with Jimmy Stewart before she shushes him.

Ten years on during Christmas Eve, the Governor's political enemies have long since forced the well-meaning but befuddled man from office. His daughter Katie is a dissolute young woman with no ambitions or aims, scared of life. Kraus is now once again kitchen staff and frequently drunk since only Benson believed in her. The worst comes when Clayton arrives, now the corrupt and despicable governor, having even run on Benson's memory to trounce his old boss. The memory of Benson raises them all up somewhat, but before they depart that other world, Benson's mother uses her angelic powers to clean up the dingy mansion and make the lost souls think of better times behind and ahead.

Before Benson returns to the life and family that really need him, Benson thanks his mother for aiding him in his moment of crisis, just as she always did in life.