Yule Eve

With one final ribbon, Amity was done wrapping her present for Luz. Adding the handmade necklace to the collection of other gifts she'd collected, she counted them up. Was seven too many? Probably not. There weren't enough gifts in both realms to even come close to showing how much Amity loved her awesome girlfriend. Regardless, she knew that Luz would love what Amity had planned. All of the gifts, except for the first one, would be hidden somewhere around the Owl House, and Amity would give clues as the day went on as to the next gift's location.

Regardless of if she was giving too few or too many gifts, Amity still knew that Luz would love each and every one of them. Still, she couldn't let Luz know what she was giving her, so she was currently holed up in the kitchen of the Owl House, while her girlfriend was off in the Human Realm finishing up her exams. Surrounded by a mountain of wrapping paper, bags, and plenty of ribbons, Amity had put sweat and tears (Thankfully not blood. Well, not her blood, at least.) into each and every one of her gifts for the human.

Collapsing onto the couch in the living room, Amity needed to take a break. She'd just spent the better part of four hours wrapping, boxing, and/or bagging everyone's gifts. Luz, Ed, Em, Dad, Darius, Miss Lilith. Had she forgotten anyone? She was pretty sure she hadn't, but there was still that nagging at the back of her mind that there was someone she hadn't accounted for.

Amity froze.

She hadn't gotten any gifts for Miss Camila!

Whipping out her scroll, she sent Luz a Penstagram message.

Conversation with goodWitchLuzura

WitchChick128: Quick, what does your mom like?

goodWitchLuzura: we talkin music, games, tv shows, what

WitchChick128: More like gifts.

goodWitchLuzura: ooh you gettin her a Christmas present?

goodWitchLuzura: Yule present, my bad

WitchChick128: Yeah, but I can't think of anything.

goodWitchLuzura: she likes ugly holiday sweaters

goodWitchLuzura: she's a sucker for a good 80s rock vinyl

goodWitchLuzura: oh and cosmic frontier stuff is always a good bet as well

WitchChick128: Awesome, thank you.

Amity wasn't quite sure what Christmas was, but she did know that it was a big deal in the Human Realm. From what little she had gleaned from the human magazines that Gus had collected, the holiday was about a rotund man dressed in red named Nick who would break into people's houses. To not draw Nick's ire, it was traditional for humans to leave the man an offering of milk and cookies. (Why milk and cookies, Amity wasn't sure. Maybe Nick had a sweet tooth?)

If milk and cookies were provided, then Nick would customarily leave gifts for the family as thanks. Though, the gifts were apparently created by slaves in Nick's workshop in the North Pole, which gave Amity pause as to the ethics of such horrid working conditions. If the family's offering of milk and cookies was insufficient, though, then he would kidnap one of their children and turn them into a slave in his workshop, which seemed a bit drastic in Amity's opinion.

Luz had said that Christmas and Yule were similar, but Amity couldn't really see it. That is unless Amity was completely wrong about Christmas, which she highly doubted. When had she ever been wrong about anything?

Nevertheless, Amity still needed to get a gift for Miss Camila. Deciding that all three of Luz's suggestions would be a good combo gift, Amity opened the portal to the Human Realm and stepped through to the other side.


Yule Day

"So how many people are gonna be crashing here?" Eda asked Luz.

"Not many. I only invited a couple people," Luz responded.

"Good," the Owl Lady said. "I don't think I can handle a giant party."

As the two waited for guests to arrive, Luz helped herself to some of the non-alcoholic apple blood, occasionally taking a sip of the drink to calm her nerves. She'd never hosted a real party like this, and the stress was starting to get to her.

"How's my favorite sweet potato doing?" Luz looked up to see her girlfriend standing before her, her hands suspiciously behind her back.

"Not great," Luz responded with a pout. "I'm nervous about the party. What if I mess up everything and it goes horribly?"

"Hey, I know this party is going to go great," Amity said in response. "Do you want to know how I know that? Because you're the one hosting it, and I know a Luz Noceda party is going to be great no matter what."

"Thanks," Luz said softly. "Whatcha hiding there?"

Finally revealing her gift for her girlfriend, Amity handed Luz the big wrapped box. "Happy Yule, batata ."

Pulling the ribbon to undo it, Luz let it fall to the floor before carefully unwrapping the box, being sure to not tear the paper. After all the wrapping paper had been removed, Luz was left with a brown cardboard box and lid.

"Go on, open it," Amity suggested. "It's not gonna bite you, if that's what you're worried about."

Taking the lid off the box, Luz found a necklace of some kind. Upon closer examination, she saw that it was a silver chain with a heart-shaped locket on it. Carefully popping open the locket, she saw that the left side was engraved with a small "L", while the other side had an "A". Gently closing the locket, she quickly put on the necklace. Wrapping Amity in a hug, she gave her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek.

"I love it," Luz said.

"I love that you love it," Amity replied.


"People are here, hoot hoot!" Hooty screamed from the Porta-Hooty house that sat next to Lilith.

(Speaking of the former leader of the Emperor's Coven, she was currently staring at a shot glass full of apple blood. She hadn't so much as taken a sip of the drink in nearly twenty years, but tonight was a night for celebration, so this was more than overdue. Slamming back the glass, she felt the sour taste more than she actually tasted it. She then promptly collapsed to the ground, asleep.)

"Alright, I'll get it." Luz said in response to Hooty's screech, walking over to the front door.

Hunter, Willow, and Gus beat her to the punch, though, as they were already walking in, all three dressed in their Emerald Entrails uniforms.

"Hey, guys!" Luz greeted the group. "You're like an hour early. Shouldn't you be prepping for your flyer derby game?"

Willow gave Luz a knowing wink. "Well, we should be, but what friends would we be if we ghosted you on your first Yule?"

"We thought we'd stop by and say hi," Hunter added. "Can't stay long, though, because, you know, we have a game in an hour."

"Sorry we couldn't bring a gift, by the way. Practice got in the way," Willow said as an apology.

"That's fine," Luz said. "You guys going out there and winning a championship for the Entrails would be an awesome gift."

The group of friends stood around for a few seconds, waiting for someone to eventually break the awkward silence.

"So, do you want us to stick around, or…" Gus trailed off.

"Ooh, I know what you guys could do for my gift. For my gift, I want to be able to turn on the crystal ball and see you all absolutely dunking on Saint Epiderm," Luz stated, miming slamming a ball into a basket.

Hunter looked confused at her response. "I thought dunking was banned, though. Dunking's banned, right, Gus?" The grimwalker turned to the younger boy for an answer, as he had studied the rulebook of the game so intensively that he could recite it in his sleep.

"I mean, there's nothing in the rules saying that dunking will actually result in a penalty," Gus replied, "just that it's 'disrespectful to the opponent and detrimental to the game as a whole'."

"So what I'm hearing is that you can dunk on them, but the ref or whoever won't like it?," Luz replied. "Then I want you all to go out and dunk on Stank Epidumb as much as you can."

"I think we can do that. Ready to dunk on those fools, Captain?" He turned to his girlfriend for confirmation, to which she gave a mischievous smile.

"Let's smoke 'em," Willow replied, punching her fist into her palm and cracking her knuckles.

"Heck yeah. Now go! You've got a championship to win!" Luz said, shooing the trio out of the house.

Walking over to the couch, Luz went to sit down so that she could get a few minutes of reprieve from running around. This didn't last long, though, as the universe had other ideas.

Welcome to the Boiling Isles! Watch your step!

Looking over to see who was crossing the dimensional barrier, Luz saw her mother walking through the portal door.

"Hola Mama," Luz said, walking over to give Camila a hug.

"Happy Yule, mija ," Camila replied, reciprocating the hug.

Luz pulled away from the hug. "I can't believe you made it! Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I think the clinic can survive without me for a day," Camila explained. "I wouldn't miss my daughter's first Boiling Isles Yule for the world."

"Aww, thanks mama," Luz responded with a smile.

Then, Luz saw who had followed her mother through the portal. "King! Collector!"

Luz got down on one knee and wrapped King in a big bear hug. "How was the trip with Mama?"

"It was awesome! The Human Realm is wild and crazy and cool, but the best part of all was that everybody thought I was just a funny looking kid and not the spawn of a dead god!" King replied giddily.

"See?" Luz replied with a ruffle of King's skull. "I knew you'd enjoy your time there."

"Amity!" The Collector called out, floating over to meet his friend.

"Hey there, Collector. How are ya?" Amity asked, but she already knew what the answer was by the act that the space cherub was quite literally vibrating with excitement.

"Incredible!" The Collector replied. "The trip with King and Miss Camila was so so so fun! We went to this really cool place called a zoo. It was like the Archive House, but all the animals were alive! I really liked the giraffes." The space cherub then noticed Hooty and went over to talk to the bird worm about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.

"Hi, Amity," Camila called out to her daughter's girlfriend, causing the girl to yelp in surprise.

"Hello, Miss Camila," Amity responded. Then, her eyes grew wide as she remembered what she had spent a good chunk of yesterday worrying about. "Gimme one second."

Running into the kitchen, Amity scrambled to find the present she had picked out for Miss Camila. After she spotted the striped blue and white bag, she grabbed it before dashing back over to where Miss Camila was waiting.

"Happy Yule, Miss Camila," Amity said, holding out the bag.

Camila waved the gift off. "Oh Amity, you didn't need to get me anything. Your company is more than enough."

"Please, I insist. I think you'll like it," Amity said, holding the gift out once more.

"Come on, mama. Just take it," Luz urged her mom.

"Fine, if I have to," Camila replied, letting out a fake sigh before winking. Taking Amity's gift, she carefully removed the tissue paper obscuring her view of what was inside. As more paper was removed, she slowly recognized what it was.

"No, it couldn't be."

But it was.

"A signed figurine of Chief Engineer O'Bailey from the limited run still in its original packaging?!"

Camila fainted.

Looking down at her fallen mother, Luz turned to her girlfriend. "I think she liked it."


"Are you sure you don't need my help in the kitchen?" Dell Clawthorne asked.

"Dad, for the last time, you are not allowed in the kitchen under any circumstances," Eda retorted.

"Hey, my cooking has gotten better since last time," Dell responded.

Eda laughed. "'Last time' was two days ago and I nearly ate an undercooked fairy before mom stepped in."

Dell knew that his daughter wasn't going to relent. "Fine. I'll stay out of your way."

Eda let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go stick my hand up a goose's hindquarters."

"Sweet flea, can you come over here for just one second?" Gwendolyn asked from her spot by the front door. She held a cup of apple blood in one hand, the other giving Hooty chin scratches as he purred in delight.

Being sure to take her sweet time, Eda slowly walked over to her mother and her house demon.

"I was having a very enlightening chat with Mr. Hooty over here," Gwen started, "and he said that inside of him there is… another him. Is that true?"

"That's just Mini-Hooty. We're pretty sure he's actually a chaos god," Eda explained.

"Oh," Gwen said, surprised at the revelation.

"Try not to think about it," Eda instructed her mom before the Owl Lady turned around, stepped over her sister's unconscious body (Tch, such a lightweight. Couldn't even handle a sip of real apple blood.), and hightailed it into the kitchen.

"I'll try," Gwen replied. A noise behind her drew her attention. Turning around, she saw Mini-Hooty slowly emerging from the larger Hooty's mouth.


After Camila awoke from the sudden meeting between her head and the floor, she retreated to the couch to recover, grabbing a mug of apple blood and an ice pack.

Walking up to the injured latina, Amity folded her hands in front of her. "Sorry about that, Miss Camila."

"It's fine carin̄o . I've bounced back from worse. I just need to take it easy for a few minutes," Camila replied, hoping to assuage Amity's worries.

Welcome to the Boiling Isles! Watch your step!

As Luz turned to the portal to greet the newcomers, she saw Masha and Vee step through the portal, hand in hand. Once the two both fully crossed the portal, Vee ditched her human disguise, morphing into her natural basilisk form. After a few seconds, Marco and Ax, the other two members of Cabin Seven, also walked through the portal and into the Owl House.

"Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to the feeling of crossing dimensions," Masha said with a shiver. "My stomach feels… wonky."

"Will this help?" Leaning in, Vee gave Masha a quick peck on the cheek, causing the enby to flush red.

"Yeah," Masha said in a quiet voice.

"Oh no, my stomach magically hurts now, too," Marco said in an over-the-top voice, turning to face Ax. "Can I get a 'Feel Better' kiss?"

"Oh please," Ax responded with a chuckle. "I know you're fine, you faker."

Marco pouted. "Dang. Well, it was worth a shot."

"Luz, how many people did you invite?!" Eda asked in a totally very calm voice as she walked in to see four more new people standing in her living room.

"Eda, please don't yell at our guests," Raine called from the kitchen. They and Eda were apparently working on "the best turducken the Isles has ever seen."

Holding her hands up defensively, Luz took a step back. "Hey, I just invited Vee and Masha. The other two just added themselves as plus ones."

"Cabin Seven is a package deal," Masha explained. "You get all of us or none of us, no in between."

"So this is the Demon Realm, huh?" Ax said, surveying their surroundings. "Thought it would be more… hellfire and brimstone."

"Hi, new friends!" Hooty said, snaking closer to Marco and Ax. "I haven't seen you two before. What's your favorite bug?"

Ax shied away from the bird tube. "Vee, can you make this… creature go away?"

"Hooty?" Vee asked in her best talking-with-kids voice.

"Yes?" the house demon replied, elongating his neck and turning around so that he could face Vee.

"Can you not bother my friends please? They… aren't used to the Isles yet." the basilisk requested.

"OKAY!" Hooty shouted, before SHLORP -ing back into his Porta-Hooty backpack.

"I hope we aren't too late to the party," Alador Blight announced as he peeked his head through the front door.

"Hey, Dad. Come on in!" Amity waved her father inside. As her father walked in, he was followed by Ed, Em, Darius, and Eberwolf.

"Wassup Mittens?" Edric asked, giving his younger sister an upward nod.

"Did you just say 'wassup' unironically?" Amity asked.

"He's been talking like this the entire day," Darius said with a groan, with Eber chittering in agreement.

"You guys just don't get the vibe I'm going for," Ed responded.

"Ed, for the love of the Titan, please stop talking like that," Emira pleaded.

"It is getting quite annoying," Alador added.

"Dang, I guess y'all can't handle the unbridled cool guy mojo I've got," Ed said, summoning a pair of sunglasses and putting them on even though they were all inside and the sun had set hours prior.

Amity physically gagged at how incredibly uncool her brother was being.

Suddenly, an alarm on Luz's phone went off. After silencing the alarm, Luz picked up the remote for Eda's crystal ball and turned it on. Stepping over Lilith, she situated herself on the couch next to her mother and her girlfriend. Flipping through the channels, she finally found the one she was looking for.

"Everyone, the flyer derby game's on!" Luz announced to the house. Turning back to the screen, she watched as Hunter zoomed past one of the St. Epiderm players, grabbed the witch's flag, and promptly threw the flag right back in the player's face before stealing it yet again.

It brought a tear to Luz's eye to see such a beautiful dunking.

Right after that, Gus managed to dunk on another St. Epiderm player and give the Entrails an even larger lead in the game. The camera cut to a reaction from the crowd, and Luz saw one Matt Tholomule holding up a sign in support of "Porter the Punisher".

Before the camera could even cut back to the field, the crowd roared. Quickly swiveling, the camera showed that Viney had stolen the flag from her matchup and was racing towards the goal while her opponent was in a daze.

Sensing that defeat was inevitable, Skara's matchup simply unhooked their flag and handed it over to Skara. Flashing her opponent a smile, Skara slowly flew over to her goal post, looping the final flag over its branch to give the Entrails the victory in record time.

The championship was over in under a minute, and Luz was ecstatic. Jumping to her feet, she loosed a victory screech. "Let's HOOTing gooo!"

The sudden profanity was what it finally took to wake Lilith from her slumber, if only partially. "No swearing in the museum, please," she slurred out.

On the crystal ball broadcast, Willow flew up and grabbed the camera before she started shaking it. "Get dunked on, Stank Epidumb! This is what you get when you mess with the Emerald Entrails! Happy Yule everybody!"