Christmas time in Pennsylvania. All was merry and bright across the town. The Hauntleys were a bit nervous seeing all the shiny and colorful lights and decorations around town.

But it was part of a human holiday tradition and they had to respect that. The Hauntleys decorated a bit differently, there were purple and blue lights hung along with black garland and skull decorations. The Scare B&B was ready for their own spooky holiday to begin.

Poppy, Bridget, and Miranda came over to visit Vampirina and her family. Miranda was carrying handfuls of Christmas bags. "Merry Christmas, everyone!"

Vampirina rushed downstairs. "Merry Christmas, guys!"

Boris and Oxana, however, were darting all over the hotel. Miranda and the rest of the girls were getting dizzy trying to follow which way they were going.

Oxana managed to stop. "Sorry for rushing around, girls. But we have three extra special guests who are staying here for Christmas!

"Really? Who is it? Frankenstein? The Wolfman?" Miranda joked.

Bridget gulped. "I hope not..."

Vampirina nudged her friend. "Don't worry, Bridget. There's nothing to be afraid of. In fact, one of the guests dying to see you two again!"

"Again?" said Poppy.

Suddenly, the lights went out. Bridget screamed and held onto Vampirina. "I don't like it when the lights suddenly go out!"

Miranda was getting nervous."Um...guys-" Her eyes grew impossibly wide. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Poppy and Bridget spun around to see a white shadow with two black eyes and a wailing mouth floating toward the girls.

"Oooohhhhhhhhhh!" The ghost wailed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Bridget screamed. "A GHOST!"

"RUN!" Miranda grabbed the girls and tried to escape through the back door, but someone in a green tuxedo and fedora was blocking them.

But there was no one inside the suit and hat! No head or hands!

"AHAHAHAAAAAAAA!" The living clothing laughed with wicked glee.

"AAAAH! INVISIBLE MAN!" Bridget squealed.

The girls tried to run the other way, but another ghost was blocking them. It wasn't the most terrifying ghost they've ever seen. It was a frightening phantom in a hooded purple robe whose face could not be seen underneath. All they could see was the skeletal hands holding a great big scythe.

"Boo." the ghost said with a deep, demonic voice that came from deep inside him.

Poppy and Bridget screamed. But Miranda was too scared to scream. She ended up fainting.

Once she stopped screaming, Poppy blinked with realization. "Gary?!"

The hooded ghost laughed in a non-scary way. "Gotcha!" He pointed his skeletal fingers at them.

"G-G-Gary?! Is that really you?!" said Bridget, nearly hysterical.

"It sure is! Merry Christmas, girls!" Gary opened up his arms and wrapped them around the two humans.

Poppy and Bridget gasped when the other ghosts arrived. The white shadow transformed into a beautiful woman. She wore a white shroud and white dress. She had long, wavy platinum blonde hair, fair skin and golden eyes. In her hand was a gold candle snuffer. "Hello!" The ghost greeted brightly. "I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past!"

The haunted green suit began to fill. The head of a man appeared, a man with slicked back red hair and a well trimmed beard. "I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present."

"And you've already met Gary!" said Vampirina. "Aka, the Ghost of Christmas Future!"

"What?!" Poppy yelped. "I thought Gary was the Grim Reaper!"

"I am." Gary said. "I'm the Grim Reaper AND The Ghost of Christmas Future. The hours are a nightmare, especially during the holidays. So, the gang and I took this Christmas off so we can cut loose here at the Scare B&B!"

Miranda woke up from her fainting spell. "Oh, what happened?" She looked at Gary and screamed. "HELP! TERRIFYING GHOST! HELP!" Miranda ran up the stairs.

"Miranda! Wait!" Vampirina was about to go after her babysitter until a cloud of red smoke poofed in the house and two elderly vampires appeared.

"SURPRISE!" It was Vee's grandparents, Nan and Grandpop.

"Mommy?! Daddy?!" Boris gasped. "What are you doing here?!"

"Surprising you, my spooky son!" Nan hugged Boris. "Gary wanted to give you a special Christmas gift, so he invited us to spend the holiday with you!"

Grandpop laughed. "You're still a master of surprises, Gary." He nudged the reaper with a friendly elbow. "Oh? And who is this?" he said, noticing a spooked Bridget hiding behind Poppy.

"Oh! Grandpop, this is my friend, Bridget." Vee introduced. "Bridget, this is my Grandpop."

Grandpop bowed politely. "Ghoulish greetings, Bridget!" The moment he said his greetings, his fangs fell out of his mouth and chattered all across the floor.

"AAAAH!" Bridget jumped away from the chomping fangs. "Don't let them bite me!"

Grandpop quickly scooped up his teeth and put them back in his mouth. Gary laughed, slapping his knee. "Hahahahaha! Those joke fangs never get old!"

"Gary! This is no time for joking!" Vee said. "You scared my babysitter Miranda so badly, she's hiding somewhere in the house!"

"What?! Someone is scared of Gary in a bad way?!" Grandpop said, astounded. "But Gary always brings in a good scare, not a bad one!"

Gary rubbed the back of his hood. "Well, Pop. Humans can get extra scared when it comes to me." he pointed out. "We gotta do something!"

Nan rubbed her chin. "Hmm...let me think..." She snapped her fingers. "I got an idea!" She whispered her plan to everyone.

"Nan! You are a genius!" Gary slapped Nan on the back.

"Brilliant idea, my poisoned apple!" Grandpop kissed his wife on the cheek.

"Sounds like a plan!" said Vee.

"Good! Now, you all run along and have fun while we take of Miranda!" Nan and Grandpop became bats and flew upstairs.

In the dark attic, Miranda was hiding underneath a blanket, behind a pile of boxes, hoping to be safe from the ghoulish phantom. She was breaking out in a cold sweat, her rapid heartbeat echoed in her ears. "Oh, no! What do I do?!" Miranda squealed under her breath. "The G-G-Grim R-Reaper is gonna get me!"

"Yoo-hoo! Miranda!" called a woman's voice.

Miranda jumped with a scream, knocking over the pile of boxes. She untangled herself out of the blanket and saw two people she's never seen before. Their blue skin and fangs poking out of their smiles indicated what they were. "Vampires?!" Miranda gulped. "Who are you?!"

"Spooky salutations, Miranda." Grandpop greeted with a bow. Miranda whimpered hearing his deep, spooky accent. "I am Vee's grandpop and this is my wife, Nanpire the Great!"

"But you can call me Nan." Nan said politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Wait. So...you're Vee's grandparents?!" Miranda gasped.

They both nodded. "Yes, Gary invited us over for some Christmas fun!" said Nan.

Miranda tilted her head. "Gary?"

"Yes, the gentleman with the large scythe you met earlier." Grandpop mentioned. "He's a good friend of ours!"

Miranda couldn't help but squeal. "What?! You mean...you're friends with the Grim Reaper?!"

Grandpop nodded. "Indeed! Gary didn't mean to scare you so badly back there. It was just a little ghostly fun!" He laughed. "That reminds of the time Gary scared himself silly when taking a shower!"

Miranda's jaw dropped. "He scared himself?!"

"You bet your bat-tails he did!" Nan laughed. "He was washing up in our guest bathroom and the room was full of steam. When he stepped out and saw his foggy reflection in the mirror, he screamed and literally fell to pieces all over the floor!"

The two vampires laughed, even Miranda.

"That also reminds of the time Vee was scared stiff when she wore that pink dress to face her fear of pink!" Grandpop shuddered.

"Huh?! Why would Vee be scared of pink?!" asked Miranda.

The vampires looked uncomfortable. "Well, Miranda. Vampires...aren't too comfortable with pink." said Nan. "It's just so..." She quivered with genuine fear. "horribly bright and cheerful!"

Grandpop rubbed his arms. "I'm getting ghost-bumps just thinking about it!"

Miranda was dumbfounded. Vampires were afraid of pink?! It sounded so crazy! Even for a girl who babysits a vampire! "Wow...I never would have thought-"

CLUNK!

"AAAH!" Miranda leaped off the floor where she sat. "What was that?!"

Nan looked behind the boxes and gasped. "Well, I'll be a witch's wart!" She picked up a strange looking bowl.

"What's that?" asked Miranda.

"It's the Scream Bowl." said Nan. "You see, Miranda. Every year, during the Blood Moon Festival, we take this family scareloom and pass it around. We scream into it for good luck."

"Really? I've never heard of anything like that." said Miranda. But then again, she didn't know any vampire traditions.

"You don't know what you're missing, Miranda!" said Grandpop. "It's not only tradition, but fun as well! Show her how it's done, my lovely!"

Nan held the bowl close to her face and let out a shrill, spine-tingling scream.

Miranda instinctively yelped from the sound of that scream. "Whoa! That was really good! And scary!"

"Why, thank you, Miranda!" Nan gave the bowl to Grandpop. "But wait until you hear my haunted hubby!"

Grandpop faced the bowl and uncorked the spookiest, most haunting laugh Miranda had ever heard.

"YIKES!" Miranda screamed. Though despite her terror, she laughed a little. "Okay! That was seriously scary, Grandpop! I'm getting ghost-bumps myself!" She never expected such powerful sounds to come from this sweet, elderly couple.

"Thank you. You're too kind, Miranda!" Grandpop offered her the Scream Bowl. "Let's see what you've got!"

Miranda held the bowl and tried to think of how to scream. "Um...do you think I can do it right?"

"Of course!" Grandpop said. "Why, you've already let out some splendid screams! So just let it all out!"

With a nod and confident smile, Miranda knew how to scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Once her scream ring through the room, Miranda looked at Nan and Grandpop. They all stared at her, openmouthed. "Um...was that okay?"

"Okay?!" said Nan. "That was spooktacular!" She and Grandpop applauded.

"It made my spine shiver!" Grandpop said, impressed.

"Aw! Thanks, guys!" Miranda was feeling a lot better thanks to Vee's grandparents.

Suddenly, Vee along with her friends and family burst into the attic. "Miranda! Is everything alright?!" Vee asked. "We heard screaming!"

Miranda smiled. "It's all good, Vee." She held up the Scream Bowl. "Just having a screaming good time with your grandfolks!"

"Hey! The Scream Bowl!" said Gary. "Boy, that takes me back!"

Miranda smiled and put down the bowl. She approached the Grim Reaper without fear. "You must be Gary." She offered her hand. "I'm Miranda."

"Pleased to meet you!" Gary shook the human's hand. "Sorry about earlier."

"That's okay. No harm done." Miranda clapped her hands together. "So, who's ready to get this party started?"

Everyone voiced their agreements and headed downstairs.

Now that introductions were properly made, everyone gathered to hear stories from the ghosts of Christmas with their cups of hot cocoa with monster-mallows.

"And then Scrooge and I flew through the air! And boy, was he scared!" said Christmas Past. "He tured white as my shroud!" They all shared a laugh.

"So, Gary, if you're the Ghost of Christmas Future, how come you never said anything in your part?" asked Miranda.

"It's the voice." Gary replied. "Most people don't take me seriously when I talk. And when I use my scary voice, it really strains the throat. So I just give them the silent treatment and point at stuff."

Christmas Present stood up. "What do you say we get some live entertainment goin'?" With a wave of his hand, musical instruments appeared and started playing by themselves. The organ in the corner began playing as well.

Smooth, spooky holiday jazz filled the room as everyone was brought to their feet. "May I have this dance?" Gary asked Miranda, offering his bony hand.

"I'd love to!" Miranda took the skeleton's hand and waltzed around the room. Grandpop and Nan as well as Boris and Oxana danced on the ceiling.

After dancing, Miranda rested on the couch and Gary waltzed with Bridget while Poppy danced with Christmas Present.

Miranda and Vampirina toasted their hot cocoa. "Vee, this has been the best Christmas ever!" Miranda said.

"It has?" Vee blinked in surprise. "Even though you were scared?"

Miranda nodded. "Yeah. I mean, sure, I was scared. But it's all good. I got to meet the ghosts of Christmas and your grandparents! And I got to do a vampire tradition! I got to scream in the Scream Bowl with your grandparents! It was pretty fun!"

"You really think so?!" Vampirina said, smiling.

"Yeah! Your grandparents are awesome! They weren't scary at all!"

"Really?" Vampirina raised an eyebrow. "They didn't scare you at all?"

"No way!" Miranda shook her head. "Gary's understandably scary. But your grandparents? Puh-lease! Me? Scared of someone's granny and grandpa? Yeah, right!" She chuckled until a familiar, haunting laugh came from behind.

"AAAAAAAAH!" Miranda fell off the couch and spun around to see Grandpop with the Scream Bowl. He chuckled as Miranda sheepishly shurgged. "Okay, I was scared..." She smiled nonetheless. "But I had fun. Merry Christmas, Vee."

Vee hugged her babysitter. "Merry Christmas, Miranda."

Miranda felt the warmth in her heart as her best friend hugged her. This was a Christmas Miranda will never forget. And she definitely won't.

She couldn't wait for next Christmas with the Hauntleys.