December 23th, two days until Christmas, the best time of the year. It was a calm, cool day in Charterville. Almost every place in town was adorned with twinkling, colorful lights and inflatable Christmas characters. And by almost, that means not every place in town was the same.
That certain place was none other than the Hillhurst Mansion. Living up to it's infamous reputation, there wasn't a single decoration on the rundown house. Not even a wreath. There wasn't a single bit of holiday cheer to be seen.
On the inside, however, things were quite different. A huge evergreen tree wrapped in shiny tinsel and cords of lights with colorful glass bulbs dangling from its branches stood in the parlor. Sparkling red and green garland with little gold and silver Christmas shapes were hung around the stair rails. Hillhurst itself looked like it was filling with the Christmas spirit.
But on the other hand, a group of monsters stood in front of the magnificent tree with horrified faces. "I think I'm gonna be sick..." Mums grumbled. "I can't go on like this much longer."
Wolfie clutched his head as he tried to fight back a howl of desperation.
Count Fangula swallowed hard. "J-Just relax fellas, we only have two more days of this and it'll be all over."
The monsters were extremely uncomfortable with all this cheer and goodwill on this human holiday. Again. They had no problem with it the last time they celebrated it though, only because Flabber cast a spell on them that time.
"But remember, this is how humans celebrate this holiday." Fangula reminded his friends. "Even with all their cheer and crosses..." he groused with a shiver. He took a deep breath. "this is our first Christmas with Ashley and we have to make the best of it. For her!"
With that in mind, the monsters slumped in defeat. Ashley's been more excited about Christmas than anyone else. Every morning she would belt out Christmas carols in the shower, go into town to look at the decorations and donate to Santas collecting money outside of the stores.
"Speaking of whom, where is she?" Mums wondered out loud. "And Little Ghoul too?"
"Right here!" a voice sang.
Ashley and Little Ghoul practically skipped happily into the parlor together. All of the monsters' jaws dropped. Little Ghoul was actually skipping and giggling like a giddy school girl. The only time she gets this excited is when she caused some first class mischief. Like filling Mums' sarcophagus with cobras or putting itching powder in Wolfie's pants.
"Alright, what are you up to now?!" Mums interrogated the hooded ghoul.
"Stuff it, Bandage butt!" Little Ghoul snapped. "If you must know, Ashley and I were watching a Christmas movie!"
"Yeah, The Nightmare Before Christmas." Ashley said. "When Little Ghoul told me she never heard of it, I almost had a cow! So I had to show her what she was missing!"
Little Ghoul sighed lovingly, "It was the best! And that Jack Skellington is so dreamy..."
Fangula rolled his eyes. "Oh great, she's got another crush on a made up character..."
Ashley chuckled. "Aw, come on Fang, Jack is pretty cool." she admitted.
"And he has the most beautiful voice and the most horrifying face." Little Ghoul swooned. "He's a ghoul's fondest dream..."
"Okay, NOW I'm gonna be sick..." Mums said.
"Anyway you guys, I have big news!" Ashley chirped in excitement. "We're having over my mom over for a Christmas party tomorrow! Won't that be fun?"
The monsters just stared.
"You've got a real sick sense of humor Ash, you know that don't you?" Mums said.
Ashley put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Come on guys, I know Christmas isn't really your thing, but that's because you see it differently. Christmas isn't all glitz and glamor with the presents and sparkly lights, its a time when friends express love and happiness with the people they care about and celebrate peace on Earth. And the first thing we're gonna do is go door to door singing carols to the neighbors!"
Then Ashley just remembered something. "Oh my gosh! I forgot to get Mom a gift!" Ashley pointed to herself and changed into a long green coat trimmed with black fur. "I better get going to the mall! You guys want to come?"
"No thanks." Mums said turning the other way. The other monsters followed him, except Fangula.
"I'll go with you Ashley." he said. "It, might be fun..."
"Me too! I wanna see a human mall!" Little Ghoul spoke up.
"Alright, I'll whip up some disguises." Ashley cracked her knuckles, aimed all fingers at the two monsters, and fired green sparkles at them. Fangula now wore black boots, black jeans, and a black and red coat while Little Ghoul's robe was green and her scaly hands were covered with red and white striped mittens. Her red eyes were hidden behind thick black sunglasses.
"I look like an elf on Spring break." Little Ghoul mumbled.
Ashley shrugged. "Hey, it was all I can do. I don't know what your face looks like so it was the best I can think of. So if anyone asks, you're my cousin."
"Your cousin?!" Little Ghoul shouted.
"Just roll with it okay? Now let's hurry before the mall gets too packed!" Ashley, Fangula and Little Ghoul rushed outside in a flash.
Mums shook his head. "I don't believe this. Those two are actually going along with this whole Christmas thing?!"
"Arf!" Wolfie barked with a sneer.
"Bah Humbug!" Frankenbeans snorted.
"Bad word choice..." a grim voice said. A chill went up the three monsters backs. They slowly turned and screamed, jumping into each other and huddled in fright.
A tall figure in a black hood was pointing a bony finger at the terrified monsters. It was a ghost of Christmas yet to come. With his pale hand, he pulled down his hood.
"FLABBER?!" the monsters shouted.
"Gotcha!" the phasm laughed. It wasn't the ghost of Christmas future after all.
"That's not funny, Blue boy!" Mums yelled in anger. "We've got enough problems with this goody-goody holiday! All this caring and sharing is driving me nutso!"
"Yeah! Christmas stupid!" Frankenbeans said.
"Well, it's not stupid to Ashley." Flabber said. "Didn't you hear a single word she said? Christmas is a time to be with the people you love! And you guys love Ashley, don't you?"
"Well..." Mums started.
Flabber crossed his arms. "I thought you guys were her friends!"
"We are!" Mums said.
"Then go find Ashley and have a merry Christmas together! I still have more decorating to do!"
The monsters sighed, defeated again. In spite of this disgustingly sweet holiday, the monsters would NEVER want to hurt Ashley's feelings. They went up to the attic and put on some disguises. Mums wore a grey jumpsuit with a hood and scarf to hide his face. Frankie wore a long blue scarf over his scarred face and a black beanie to hide his head bolts and gloves to hide his wrist seams. All Wolfie had to do was make like a dog and morph into his wolf form.
Mums talked to his roommates "Okay boys, let's just find Ashley, hang out for a little bit, look for any free food samples, and blow out of there. Agreed?" They nodded in agreement and headed for the mall.