Anna Castillo, Pep Ambròs
It's early January, 2017, and Leonard and Penny are hosting a regular dinner for their friends, the first time they've gotten together since the holidays. Each group has a story to tell which marred their holidays. Sheldon and Amy went to Texas to spend the holidays with Mary. Their issue revolves around the fact that, on Amy's initiative, they told fundamentalist Christian Mary about their cohabitation outside of wedlock. It is not only Mary's reaction to the news that has Sheldon irked, but also a secret that Amy divulges about that news. Leonard and Penny's story revolves around the day they ended up purchasing their Christmas tree, issues around which placed a pall on everything else that happened that day. And in the collective Wolowitz-Rostenkowski-Bloom household with Koothrappali thrown into the mix, they are still getting used to having baby Halley in their lives and the lack of sleep that she causes, especially in trying to get her to stop crying. It's not only the crying that is the issue, but also what, or more specifically who, can stop her from doing so.—Huggo