Welcome to the twenty-fourth and final installment of A Very Merry X-Mas, where I count down my 24 favorite X-Men (or X-Men related) Christmas stories!

Today, we look at #1 in the countdown, "'Twas the Night" by Chris Claremont, Marc Silvestri and Joe Rubinstein from Uncanny X-Men #230.

Again, as I noted in the earlier two entries, this issue isn't as good as the other two issues, but it is EXTREMELY Christmas-y, and it IS a good issue, so it gets the top spot on the countdown.

This story took place at an odd time in the X-Men's history. During the "Fall of the Mutants" storyline, the X-Men sacrificed themselves to defeat a powerful magical being known as the Adversary. They essentially turned into beams of magical light. However, after they successfully defeated the villain, the supernatural being known as Roma resurrected the entire team and made them invisible to electronic media, so that they can continue to pretend that they are dead if they want. They head to Australia in the outback, where they fight the villainous Reavers. They take control of the Reavers' home base in the outback.

In this issue, the X-Men come across all of the loot that the Reavers have stolen over the years. Longshot discovers that when he touches an item, he is given the history of the item, including the psychic pain of the item being stolen. It is quite distressing to him, which he shares with the rest of the team via Psylocke's telepathy...

Meanwhile, Rogue has been trying to befriend the teleporting mutant known as Gateway, who lives near their new base. The X-Men work together a plan. They use Longshot's ability to sort the stolen loot into different piles based on the continent they were stolen from and then Gateway teleports them around the world to return the loot. It happens to be Christmas Eve night, so the X-Men are, in effect, being Santa Clause with the stolen loot...

Isn't that a super clever idea?

The whole thing takes them all night long and they get home for Christmas Day, and Dazzler is gifted the bike she wants by the rest of the team...

We then see Rogue give Gateway a present and she finally breaks through his standoffish facade...

Pretty damn adorable, and that's why it is my pick for the top X-Men Christmas story.