Joy to the World was a satisfying watch on the whole.  I loved the hotel and found it a very creative setting.  Especially in how writer Steven Moffat makes use of the idea.  The Doctor having to "take the long way" back to the hotel was great.  I loved the extended sequence of him hanging out there for a whole year.  Anita was really well done.  I especially like how she just comes across as a minor character at first and winds up becoming one of the best parts of the episode.  It was great character work and shows he still needs some healing even after 14's extended therapy session.

People talk so much about the Star of Bethlehem thing but it is like two minutes of a very long Christmas special.  I truly don't care about this enough to comment.  It's fine.  It's a Christmas special.  I hardly thought twice about the moment because it hardly felt that important, I feel it was just sort of an ending and resolution to Joy's character.  And that emotional pay-off, in my opinion, is very, very good.  This is the first time ever that I've encountered content that deals with the COVID pandemic without it being unnecessarily saccharine or silly.  No Zoom meetings, no masks, just the naked reality that so many people had to endure the death of their relatives without being in the same room as them.  The isolation and loneliness that brings.  This was a beautiful episode, and I really can't view it any other way.  Easily one of my favourites among the Chrismas episodes, and this opinion holds true even months after watching it.