Ironically, the top-ranking "Simpsons" holiday episode isn't really about Christmas. To put it more precisely, it's not addressing boilerplate, generalized themes about family or togetherness. Instead, it's a definitive Bart episode, with Christmas functioning as a plot device. The eldest Simpson child gets busted shoplifting a video game and Marge responds as if it's the worst thing he's ever done.
Sure, Bart caused an international incident as recently as the previous season, but in terms of the kind of non-fantastical, plausible mischief that a 10-year-old boy could commit in real life, ripping off the Try-N-Save is his greatest transgression. Bart puts actual effort into reestablishing the doting mother-son dynamic he rejects at the beginning of the episode when he claims that he's "not a little kid anymore," because while he's happy to play the part of his generation's Dennis the Menace, he doesn't want his mayhem to go too far and alienate his mom. Or, for that matter, his audience.
"Marge Be Not Proud" establishes a rule "The Simpsons" has more or less followed since: Bart's shenanigans must remain either too over-the-top and cartoony for reality or too harmless for anyone to take seriously. Bart doesn't commit adult crime, and this is probably the way it should be. There are plenty of other television shows that explore the darker sides of juvenile delinquency; "The Simpsons" can just do its own thing.
