The “Modern Family” star talks about his run-in with Steven Spielberg and explains why he’s giving his Emmy as a Christmas gift to his parents. Plus, while telling an emotional story, Eric accidentally spits on George, bringing the interview to a halt.

Source: Lopez Tonight

Sorry for the late results, but we now have a winner for the “family’s best holiday tradition.”.
The winner of the giveaway is Cheryl W, who’s family tradition is in the spirit of “Modern Family” – “Find the Pickle” :

One of my favorite Christmas family traditions is “Find the Pickle”. We have a huge tree and before we decorate Granny hides the pickle ornament somewhere within the Christmas tree branches. All the kids (Adult) start in a line and then make a mad dash for the Christmas tree to find the prized pickle ornament. Who ever finds it, win $100! This is the most hilarious thing ever to watch. We are family, so any pushing or prodding is intensified x10. So much fun. Then we re-hide the pickle ornament and let the next group (the grandkids) do a run, and the winner gets $50. By the end the tree is nearly demolished, but salvageable to decorate. So much fun, we will carry it on forever.

Cheryl wins a DVD of her choice from either Married with Children – The Complete First Season or  The Office – Season One

This giveaway was sponsored by:

• SimchaBucks – Want to know how much money to spend on a wedding gift? Try Simchabucks’ wedding gift calculator.
• EasyGration – EasyGration can help you with your Green Card Through Marriage application.

“Modern Family” got a “Cheers” from TV Guide for an early Christmas present: the spot-on guest casting of Fred Willard as Phil’s father. Though he was only (mostly half-)seen on a computer screen as he admired via video-conferencing the corny Christmas sweaters he’d sent as gifts, Willard fit right in with Family’s heartwarmingly oddball tone. He’s played endearing dorks in everything from the groundbreaking talk-show spoof Fernwood 2-Night to the pet satire Best in Show. It doens’t take a DNA test to figure out he’s the comic forefather of his super-dufus TV son, Ty Burrell (who also costarred with Willard in the short-lived Fox sitcom Back to You). We just hope Phil’s dad comes for a visit—maybe in time for Feburary sweeps?

Episode recap:
When Phil and Claire discover a burn mark on the sofa, they try to get a confession out of their children. When no one confesses, Phil dramatically declares Christmas is canceled.
Jay attempts to revive the Christmas tradition with Manny, but fails to consider their different backgrounds. Manny and Gloria do not celebrate Christmas in the same manner, in fact, Manny does not believe in Santa Claus.
Cameron and Mitchell wait in line for Santa at the mall. With their daughter in tow, they demand the fat Santa instead of the skinny one and promptly gets the man fired. Meanwhile, Cameron is furious after seeing his caroling group perform after they kicked him out. Sympathetic for the man, Mitchell and Cameron invite the Santa over.
See the full recap here.

Some reviews come from:
TV Squad:

This holiday episode was lighter on the funny moments than most episodes of Modern Family, which isn’t to say that it wasn’t plenty funny. It substituted those with more heartfelt moments. Homeless Santa was able to forgive Cameron and Mitchell for getting him fired with their complaints that he didn’t look enough like St. Nick. They didn’t even have to admit they’d done it; he forgave them after seeing the kindness in their hearts — which may have had a healthy dash of guilt thrown into the mix.

I love it, though, when he punched out Cam’s rival in the chorus. Even after usurping control last year and getting Cam kicked out, he still had to go to his house to rub it in his face, and then when Cameron sucked it up to be the bigger man and show true Christmas spirit, he had to keep on being a jerk. He deserved a good hit.

The best moment of the entire episode came when Jay arrived at his house toward the end of the episode and put down the law that no Colombian traditions were allowed in the house. The looks on Gloria and Manny’s faces were so raw and real, it was painful to see. But when Jay popped back out with “Innocente!” embracing the Colombian tradition of pranks at Christmas, it was simply beautiful. He even had fireworks!

and AV Club:

• Fred Willard? Perfect choice for Phil’s dad. Great little technology joke with only the top half of his head showing up in the video chat.
• Cameron, chastising Mitchell for complaining about the long Santa line, then catching sight of the New Greensleevers: “Somebody needs to get in the holiday sonofabitch!”
• Phil: “I can forgive the smoking, but I can’t forgive the lie.” Catching Claire’s eye: “Or smoking.”
• Scott the Homeless Santa has too many good lines to quote, but I’ll try: In reference to living in his car, “It’s pretty roomy since the wife moved out.” Responding to the dinner invitation, “Can I bring anything? Ketchup, soy sauce, straws?” And of course, the new gay Christmas tradition of a shirtless Santa: “Who wants to try the swing?”
• “Burrito, burr-eye-to.”
• “What happened?” “Doesn’t matter! Wreath, stockings, tree, presents, go!”

CHRISTMAS CHEER IS A LITTLE MIXED AS EACH HOUSEHOLD GETS READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS, ON ABC’S “MODERN FAMILY”
Guest starring Fred Willard (“Best in Show,” “Waiting for Guffman”) as Phil’s dad.
“Undeck the Halls” – Christmas is in full swing at the Dunphy house until the kids get in some trouble and Phil and Claire threaten to take away Christmas until one of them fesses up. Meanwhile, Jay struggles with wanting to stick to his holiday traditions while Gloria and Manny want to incorporate some of their Colombian practices, and Mitchell and Cameron take Lily to the mall for her first picture with Santa — but end up with a disgruntled mall Santa on their hands — on “Modern Family,” WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9 (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.
“Modern Family” stars Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett, Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Sofía Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, Sarah Hyland as Haley Dunphy, Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy, Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy and Rico Rodriguez as Manny Delgado.
Guest cast include Fred Willard as Phil’s dad, Brian T. Finney as Scott and Jeremy Scott Johnson as Andrew.

Read more: 3 Sneak Peeks – Modern Family 1.10 “Undeck the Halls” « TVOvermind

‘Modern Family,’ it will be Christmas to “Undeck the Halls”

CHRISTMAS CHEER IS A LITTLE MIXED AS EACH HOUSEHOLD GETS READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS, ON ABC’S “MODERN FAMILY”

“Undeck the Halls” – Christmas is in full swing at the Dunphy house until the kids get in some trouble and Phil and Claire threaten to take away Christmas until one of them fesses up.

Meanwhile, Jay struggles with wanting to stick to his holiday traditions while Gloria and Manny want to incorporate some of their Colombian practices, and Mitchell and Cameron take Lily to the mall for her first picture with Santa — but end up with a disgruntled mall Santa on their hands.

Look for “Modern Family,” TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15 (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network. (Rebroadcast: OAD: 12/9/09)

“Modern Family” stars Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett, Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Sofía Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, Sarah Hyland as Haley Dunphy, Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy, Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy and Rico Rodriguez as Manny Delgado.

Guest cast include Fred Willard as Phil’s dad, Brian T. Finney as Scott and Jeremy Scott Johnson as Andrew.

“Undeck the Halls” was written by Dan O’Shannon and directed by Randall Einhorn.

[Source: RBR]

The annual Kansas City Mayor’s Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony will be held on Friday, November 27, 2009 at 5:30 p.m.

Kansas City native Eric Stonestreet, star of ABC’sModern Family, will be on hand for the festivities. The 100-foot-tall Mayor’s Christmas Tree is one of the tallest in the United States, and is the centerpiece for this holiday celebration.

The Mayor’s Christmas Tree Ceremony is located in Crown Center Square.

[source: Kansas City on the cheap ]

The funniest new sitcom of the season will then take a week off and return on December 9 with a new installment. On that episode, “Modern Family” episode 10, Fred Willard comes aboard as Phil’s dad, as the Dunphy kids face the possibility of no Christmas this year.

TV Fanatic uncovered a photo of Willard in the role:

CHRISTMAS CHEER IS A LITTLE MIXED AS EACH HOUSEHOLD GETS READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS, ON ABC’S “MODERN FAMILY”
Guest starring Fred Willard (“Best in Show,” “Waiting for Guffman”) as Phil’s dad.

“Undeck the Halls” – Christmas is in full swing at the Dunphy house until the kids get in some trouble and Phil and Claire threaten to take away Christmas until one of them fesses up. Meanwhile, Jay struggles with wanting to stick to his holiday traditions while Gloria and Manny want to incorporate some of their Colombian practices, and Mitchell and Cameron take Lily to the mall for her first picture with Santa — but end up with a disgruntled mall Santa on their hands — on “Modern Family,” WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9 (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

“Modern Family” stars Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett, Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy, Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Sofía Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, Sarah Hyland as Haley Dunphy, Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy, Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy and Rico Rodriguez as Manny Delgado.
Guest cast include Fred Willard as Phil’s dad, Brian T. Finney as Scott and Jeremy Scott Johnson as Andrew.

[Source: tv over mind]

A star is born – we wish Eric luck with his new responsibility as reported by the kansascity.com:
Piper graduate Eric Stonestreet, the breakout star of the new comedy “Modern Family” on ABC, will flip the switch on the Mayor’s Christmas Tree at Crown Center Nov. 27.
“Modern Family” is the season’s top-rated new sitcom and for the past two weeks has been the highest-rated Wednesday night series on any network.
Recent honorees chosen to light the Mayor’s Christmas tree include former Kansas City Chief Jared Allen, KMBC’s Johnny Rowlands and musical great Oleta Adams.