The gallery had changed since Crystal's last visit – the regular portraits were gone, replaced with what looked like stained glass windows. They depicted Christmassy scenes with captions below them: A view of the Mansion ('T'was the Nightmare before Christmas'); a tree with presents ('Not a creature was peaceful'); a fireplace with stockings ('The stockings were hung by the chimney with care'); and a boy and a girl in bed with toys behind them ('The children were resting all snug in their beds').

All of a sudden, the lights flickered, then went out, and Crystal heard what sounded like a bunch of glass shattering. Crystal heard George sigh heavily and snap his fingers. In an instant, the lights came back on – the candles had relit themselves, but they were purple flames. The room seemed to be lit with black lights, and Crystal saw that the stained glass images had broken horizontally across the middle, revealing florescent portraits beneath the glass. The room started to stretch, and the paintings revealed themselves. They depicted a ghost dog pulling a coffin sleigh, a bunch of scary toys, a tall thin man in a Santa suit with a skull for a head and a long beard, and a long coiled snake. George began to speak as the room started to stretch.

"T'was the nightmare before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was peaceful, not even a mouse. The stockings, all hung by the chimney with care, when opened that morning would cause such a scare! The children, nestled all snug in their beds, would have nightmares of monsters and skeleton heads…"

There was a crash of thunder, and out of the corner of her eye, Crystal could see something at the top of the ceiling. She looked up and saw the huge skeleton head that was in the picture, grinning down.

"Happy Holidays, everyone!" He said cheerily, and then laughed an unnaturally high laugh. The room was plunged into darkness.

"That the guy?" Crystal asked as her vision changed to see more clearly in the dark. She saw George's head nod. All of a sudden, Crystal heard an eerie little giggle coming from above them. A few seconds later, she heard what sounded like an out of tune version of the 'la la la' section from 'Deck the Halls,' coming from a different corner of the room.

"That voice…it sounds familiar," Crystal said. A few seconds later, the lights came back on, and she was surprised to see a small ghost standing in front of her. It was Little Leota – Madame Leota's daughter, and mischief maker extraordinaire. The small spirit grinned at Crystal.

"I just knew you were coming! I knew you were gonna be the one that was gonna free us again!" She said with a smile. Crystal smiled back.

"Hey! How's it going?" She asked. Little Leota shrugged.

"Oh, okay I guess. This skeleton guy has ruined the mansion, though. Although some of his decorations are very pretty!"

"Little Leota, open the door for us? We've got some work to do, so don't make a fuss!" George said to Little Leota. She obediently knocked on the wooden wall, and the other secret door opened.

"Bye Crystal!" She called, and ran playfully out of the room, disappearing as she got farther down the hall.

Crystal and George exited to the portrait gallery, and she saw that the paintings there had changed. They were all of cheery Christmas scenes, but as Crystal and George passed, they morphed into strange Halloween and Christmas mixes. For example, a cute little snowman picture changed to a "pumpkinman", three pumpkins stacked on top of each other and the final one had been made into a jack-o-lantern.

"Now, hurry along, as they say, 'look alive'…this is one holiday you will want to survive," George said, unable to stop rhyming, and Crystal hid a smirk.

"Jack Skellington came here from Halloween Town...you'll notice his handiwork scattered around. This year he's decided to play Sandy Claws. But when Halloween creates Christmas, you might see a few flaws," George explained. Crystal nodded, and noticed that the busts in the end of the portrait hall had been covered in festive spider webs. As she got closer, she realized that they spelled out messages – "Ho ho ho" and "Noel."

"Yes, down the chimney Jack flew like a bat, clutching his magical Sandy Claws sack. He ripped open the sack, and in moments it seems, created a Christmas you have in bad dreams. More rapid than vultures, the Mansion was changed - all was soon covered, adorned and deranged."

George offered his hand out to have Crystal continue up the stairs to the rest of the house, and they continued their search for the mingling skeleton.