25 cherishing Christmas tales

*The 25 Christmas tales of this year!! Yayyy!!! Some of these tales are based off tales I made in 2024, some are new.  I will update with a new tale every day until the 25th ends! Anyway, I hope you enjoy! This story is under my folder titled “25 Christmas tales”. Gacha Club character designs are under my character forum: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=116005&start=960 . Enjoy and Scary Creepmas!*

Tale One-A child’s smile

Flykra stared up at the infinite, glittering white void in front of her, where blurry white spots rained down. It was not the sky, but only a place of rest, an eternal winter. The only way that she could wake up was if the energy of the Christmas season had given life to her icy claws. January would not do, for it was too full of gloom. Only in December would she come alive.

So she waited in the dimension where she could sleep peacefully, where she was the only one there, where she could not move her mouth or her claws. Did it bother Flykra not to move? Yes, but at least she would wake up someday. It was just like on Christmas Eve, when a child had to wait the next morning to open presents. It wasn’t fun, but it would be worth it when it happened.

Flykra saw the sky shake a little bit and then, she felt somebody digging her out with excited fervor, bringing her into the human world. Could it be that it was finally Christmas time? Finally?

When she felt the threads of her consciousness come together, making sense of everything that was going on, she shot up from the ground and saw that there was a little human girl staring at her, bundled up in winter gear, her brown eyes wide with surprise.

Flykra rose up, for it was her time of year to shine.

“Child, fear not. I am Flykra, a winter sprite. I wake up on only the coldest days. You are?” Flykra said, smiling with her icicle teeth. She knew that her teeth were sharp, but she hoped that they wouldn’t scare the child.

The child in question just stared at her as though she could not make anything of what she was saying. Flykra began to wonder if grinning with her teeth was the wrong thing to do, if maybe she should have done a closed smile instead. After all, it wouldn’t shock the little girl as much.

“I’m Layna.” The little girl-Layna-beamed.

“Layna! That’s a lovely name! Can I show you a magic trick?” Flykra asked.

Layna nodded and so, Flykra reached deep into her arm, pulling at her insides to get the best snowflakes from within. Layna cringed in disgust, but it would be worth it when the trick was over.

Snow and ice overtook the entire backyard, the sky was a white fog. It was just like the safe place Flykra slept, except there was a child in front of her, waiting for her.

“Do you like it?”

Flykra had pulled out a chain of glittering snowflakes, a streamer of winter magic just for Layna, a bit of joy that made the little girl smile.

If only Flykra could stay with Layna a little longer, then they could play more games, then-

“Breakfast time!” A man’s voice called out.

As soon as Flykra heard his voice, she knew it was time to go. The man could have been none other than Layna’s father and Flykra could not be seen by adults. They wouldn’t understand. They’d freak out.

She left her snowflake chain for Layna to stare at, but she would be back. After all, it was Christmas.

Flykra would be there for Christmas.

Tale Two-A cold heart, a cold night

Grant bit deep into the dead baby bird. They were everywhere where he lived, he saw them dotted on the cement back when he was in elementary school. Baby birds trying to fly and failing.

He was an elf, but not an elf that anybody would love or imagine to exist. Well, except for his human friend, Parker. Parker found out last Christmas. Parker still cared about him.

Even so, his parents still didn’t want him to come back home. It was why he was sent to the Maddox All-Boys Boarding School in the first place, because they’d rather keep him in the farthest corner of their thoughts than in their own house.

It all started that one Christmas when he was seven years old…

………………………………………………………………….

Grant was outside, away from the family celebration. He wanted to spend some time alone, some time away from his family. He was always somebody who liked his own company, but that one Christmas felt different. He couldn’t stop thinking about how loud it was, how much his ears rang, how much he wanted them all to shut up.

It got so bad that Grant had to step outside and look at the cloudy white sky, where the foggy sun shone. Snow fell down, gently on the ground, decorating the barren branches of trees all around him. Their branches looked just like teeth, sharpened teeth ready to bite, ready to kill, ready…ready…like his teeth. His teeth that bled his tongue. His teeth that felt more painful than the cold, but it didn’t hurt as much as his hunger. Maybe he could go back inside and have some cookies or candy canes. Maybe little peppermints.

But it was a stabbing pain inside of him, more than any treat could fix. Grant shivered from the flashing images in his mind, of a poison that was as red as bows and warm as hot chocolate, so delectable and dangerous that it’d taste better if he waited to take it, if he rewarded himself-why was he thinking those horrible things? Those violent things? They were bad thoughts. Bad thoughts! He wouldn’t get ANY presents if he thought of evil things!

He could watch the bird, that little baby bird, flying out of its nest on the high branch. Why did it try to fly? Wouldn’t it fall? Grant had to save it! He had to stop it from falling!

So, he ran towards where the bird was, as fast as he could in the sea of snow, extending out his mittens to catch the little bird-

Without thinking, he bit into it, tasting fresh, dark blood, his aching throat healed, his tears staining his freezing, raw skin. The red dots dripping from the bird were just like peppermints.

“GRANT?! What’s wrong with you?!” Dad’s voice shouted with anger and…and fear?

Grant looked up and saw his Dad at the back door, the dead baby bird still in his mouth and he felt his heart sink.

Dad’s wide eyes held only fear. He was afraid of Grant.

………………………………………………………………….

Grant didn’t think that his parents wanted to help him. Not one bit. They wanted him away and away he was.

He didn’t speak much. His voice had grown all raspy and distorted, a voice that no one wanted to hear from an adolescent. Parker was nice to him. Parker celebrated Christmas with him.

But at the end of the day, he still didn’t know why he was an elf. He had the pointy ears, but he wasn’t sweet. His soul was sour, his heart was cold, just like the dead bird in his mouth with its dried up blood.

Grant took the bird out of his mouth, staring at its broken, bruised body. His knees were on the snow, he was outside of his boarding school. He and Parker had finished caroling, everyone was supposed to be asleep. It was just him and the little brown bird. It wasn’t a cardinal, he could tell from its shape, but it was still special. It was special because it existed and he took that away from it. He took it so that he could live another day. Why was he the way he was? Why couldn’t he be human?

He buried the bird in the snow, then put a stick up as its grave. The stick would probably get blown away, but at least it was something.

With that, Grant turned back towards the boarding school. He didn’t want Parker to be too worried about him.

Tale Three-Grave mistake

Casiane studied the woman’s face, the stillness of her sleep. The woman was dead, that much she could tell, but…

Casiane did not know who she was. The woman had dark hair, just like Novalie, but her face…it was off. Different. Not her love.

She dug away the snow and buried the woman deep in it, just like she did with all of the other women that she kissed. Her heart stung from the burning frustration of it all. It had been centuries since Novalie was taken from her, centuries since Casiane had died by her favorite evergreen tree and made her spirit into a mistletoe plant. Every time a dark-haired woman went under her tree, she’d come as a twisted mistletoe woman and kiss them to take them, but every time, it was someone else. Novalie was already dead, but Casiane wanted her spirit.

When she was done burying the woman, she clenched her claws into fists, all alone in the whirling snow. Sometimes, people came to her lonely place of rest. Most of the time, the only sound was silence.

Casiane held up the blue skirts of her dress, making her way back to the tree. It was winter time again. Christmas time, she could sense it from the feeling of joy that was mixed within the snowflakes, a feeling that did not come in the other winter months. She had met Novalie at that time. They had both died at that time. Casiane could not protect her at that time.

And still, Casiane was making grave mistakes. When would the lost woman be Novalie? When would she find a spirit and not the living?

She would have cried if she were alive.

Tale Four-Clown Christmas

Fannie was put on a black couch that had deep, white holes in them, holes from it being too old, but to her, the holes looked like snow.

A year ago, clown women named Scary and Spooky had found her lost in the snow and taken her in for Christmas Eve. Ever since then, she had never stopped feeling loved and cared for.

And Fannie didn’t feel any different when she was sitting on the couch in that moment, waiting for the clowns to give her presents, presents that Santa’s elves had made for her. Spooky was getting a present, Scary was sitting with her. Scary had put her on the couch, since Fannie was a doll and could not move on her own.

The house that the clown women lived in was dark, the curtains were faded purple, orange and black. Sunlight wafted in through cracked parts of the windows, dust particles mixed with the light. The Christmas tree was dead, with only a few ornaments and string lights that didn’t work.

It wasn’t bright, but it still felt like home. It still felt like family. Fannie hadn’t felt such warmth since-

Fannie ran down the stairs, rushing to the front door. She’d have to be fast, she couldn’t keep them waiting. Most importantly, she could not keep him waiting. He would want her to be ready. If she could get to him as quick as possible, then the cold would not come. That was what they said. That…that…who were…

“Fannie?! Are you alright?! Spooky has your present now.”

Fannie blinked. That was the one thing that she could do. Scary had her claw on Fannie’s back as if she were trying to wake Fannie up. Spooky was in front of her, holding a wrapped present, her orange eyes wide with shock.

Something had happened. Fannie was remembering something, something that interrupted her moment, but what? What had blinked in her mind? Why did it disappear?

“Yes, Scary, I’m fine. You can open my present now.” Fannie said, for she could not move her hands, so the clowns would open it for her.

Scary took the present, still looking at Fannie as though she didn’t believe her. Fannie wasn’t lying, she just…she just didn’t know what happened.

Hopefully it wouldn’t happen again.

Tale Five-Heavens high

It was Christmas Day in 1950

Aize, not quite a kid, but not entirely an adult

Took his little sister, Lilia, out to get pinecones

While they were out in the snow

Their parents, Irene and Chandler

Were by the fireplace in the house

Snuggled up together and waiting for the kids

Never did they think that something would go amiss

But an awful creature with claws and teeth

Sprang up from behind and snatched them as they screeched

The kids came back to nobody home

Christmas cheer gone dry

But at least their parents

Went up to the Heavens high

After they died 

Tale Six-Sad sacrifice

Yamileth watched from high up on her cloud as the woman covered the child’s mouth with her hand. The woman, the child, and her husband were far out in the woods, about to sacrifice their child to her, Yamileth.

She extended her claw out, trying to use her magic to make the parents change their mind, to get them to turn back, but still, the woman raised her knife and the child’s body fell to the snow.

Yamileth had many powers. She could create winter faeries and sprites, could make the snow rain down faster, but she could not make the cold go away. It wasn’t her job and yet somehow, people had thought that she would be able to get rid of it. Somewhere along the lines, they began to sacrifice children to her to wish the cold away and so, she would care for all the children as best as she could.

She could not change the minds of those who wielded the knife.

…………………………………………………………………

Yamileth glided through the snow, towards where the child lay. Yamileth’s dimension was an infinite winter, a hidden Heaven. The child was scared, but she would help. She would try.

When she got close, she knelt down to the child’s level and said:

“They always think that killing children will make me protect them from the cold. Don’t they know it stands against my principles? I wonder where they got this idea. Hmm…no matter. What is your name, child? I’m sure you know me.”

“Yamileth?” The child asked, her brows knit in confusion as she studied Yamileth’s face.

Yamileth nodded, her claw still on the child’s shoulder. She didn’t want to grip too hard, she knew that her claws would hurt.

“I’m Oona.” The child-Oona-said.

Oona. That was a nice name. It reminded Yamileth of lambs and ribbons, flowers and starlight. A name to be written in pink cursive.

A perfect name for an abandoned girl.

“Come, Oona. I will protect you.” Yamileth said, standing up and letting go. She waited a bit for Oona to follow her, but once Oona got up, they both went off to a safe place.

Maybe one day Yamileth could stop the sacrifices. But the best thing she could do was protect their souls.

Tale Seven-Hollowed heart

Vietta hugged her arms close to her chest as she walked down the hall to her room. She had just left the bathroom and was going back to her room, but she still felt it. The shadow that was not her. It couldn’t be her, because if it was, then it wouldn’t be alive.

But still, she felt its coldness like the winter snow, reaching out towards her, threatening to engulf her, to-

She just had to walk a few more steps to her room. The glowing white light of the Christmas tree illuminated in the hallway, but it didn’t take away the sense of fear that she felt, how her chest beat rapidly, it didn’t take it away at all.

Don’t you want your sister to play with you?

Vietta stopped. The voice sounded like her own, but it was all muffled and distorted, like something from a static radio. Her older sister never had time for her, but that was because she was busy writing songs. That was what their parents said. She was going to be a musician someday and Vietta couldn’t get upset about it.

I can help you get rid of her. I am supposed to help you. I’m an angel.

Vietta felt herself being pulled farther into the darkness, far from the direction of her room. She tried to move her feet, but it was as if something were keeping her glued together, as if there were invisible ribbons holding her tight.

The pull only stopped when she was in her sister’s room, when she saw the older girl’s blond hair splayed on the pink pillow. It was supposed to be brown, but she dyed it blond to be more of a “popstar”. Her eyes were shut, she held an old teddy bear toy in her arms, both of its eyes missing.

In that moment, Vietta felt like her whole body had been stripped of its skin and only her bones were left to freeze, like she stepped out in the snow without the proper gear and then-

She saw it. Her shadow, the angel. It had wings so white that it did not look like a real color, gold so bright that it burned like fire, but most of all, it had long, glittering nails that shimmered just like her older sister’s fake nails, nails that had fun swirls and loops that reminded Vietta of her favorite toys, her favorite berry flavored lipgloss tubes she asked for as Christmas gifts, nails that were sharp enough to slice through her older sister’s skin.

The wings, with its great, overwhelming majesty, was a nightmare Vietta was cursed to see.

Tale Eight-Wrath of what is not seen

Amethyst curled her claws as she watched Irene and Chandler wave their kids off. Why was it that they got to have a good Christmas while she had to suffer in silence?

They were humans and they didn’t deserve to have all the joy that they did. What did they do but exist? There wasn’t any purpose to their lives. Amethyst, on the other hand? She created elves that would bring winter happiness, elves that would spread Christmas spirit. Without her, the elves would not exist and December would be more bleak than January.

She could not have a family of her own. She could not fall in love. Nobody could see her and once December was done, she would slip into a dimension she knew not the name of. Her only purpose was to work, but the humans…they had more.

Chandler and Irene both sat on the couch, Chandler wrapping his arm around Irene and that was when Amethyst rose up from behind the couch, snatching them both away faster than they could imagine.

Let them be in the loneliness of her snowy void. They wouldn’t like being invisible.

Tale Nine-Deep in the woods

Deep in the woods

Where the snow and the ice intertwine

D’Artganan and her spider love, Zechariah

Bring Christmas fear to one and all

Zechariah weaves his webs of snow

D’Artganan’s eyes give a sinister glow

A spider with a heart as soft as snow

An elf with a smile as bright as string lights

They don’t mean to harm

They only want a little fun

Christmas is a bore with only presents galore

Nice can’t live without Naughty

Gifts aren’t good without coal

They’d found solace in one another

What’s the harm in scaring others?

D’Artganan and Zechariah, bringing in Christmas magic and mischief

Deep in the woods

Where anyone may venture

Tale Ten-A frozen house

Something took Rhodes

Nelle knew it well

It happened one winter walk

A great force had whisked him away

Something magical

Something powerful

Something unseen

Nelle tried to tell them all

But not a soul would listen

Alone with the truth

Nelle searched for months

Her fingers grew cold

But her heart stayed warm

Doubt ate the edge of her mind

Yet determination is the strongest of its kind

Like a candle in a dark night

She searched until she slipped in the snow

Her spirit has not died

She won’t stop till her husband is by her side

And they stay by the fireplace together

Christmas is not a time to be alone

A frozen house is not a home

Tale Eleven-All is not lost

Fiore held Dionne’s hand as they walked through the void that was the woods. At least, that was what they both believed it to be. It was too dark and too late to see anything properly, except for the silhouettes of bare, skeletal trees reaching towards the husky sky with broken claws and the soft, white snow that drifted onto the ground.

It was just like that strange, surreal night he first met his daughter, Vietta, shaking in his garden and telling him that her family didn’t want her. It was just like the night he lost her, too. An angel had taken her in the poinsettia garden.

But if it were an angel, why would it take her? And why would it make him a living Pierrot clown doll? An angel was supposed to help, to guide. Even if said angel knew nothing about them and had deep, deep eye bags, like a corpse, even if the angel didn’t really smile, there was still love in the angel’s brown eyes, warmth in the angel’s hand, still-

Dionne is not an angel. He’s a human. He’s helping to be nice.

Nice was nothing more, though. Dionne did not have to help him and yet, there they were, walking to what seemed to be the ends of the Earth just for Vietta.

They got to talk about their lives with each other in the space. Dionne had people in his life who disappeared and people who died from sickness or are. Fiore had asked why and Dionne had just said “life happens”.

Fiore supposed that was true, since less and less people had spoken to him as he got older and more people had died, but it didn’t make him feel any better. The thing that did was Dionne being around. It was a reminder that he wasn’t completely alone, that Christmas joy still existed, that…that…

“Does that church mean anything to you?” Dionne’s voice asked.

Fiore could see a tall, white church, glowing in a hazy, ghostly color. In the shadows, he could make out statues of angels and graves, as though he were in a cemetery. The air was thick with longing and sorrow, something that he could feel choking him, even though he had no heart, no blood.

“I never saw it before. But we can look together. We might be closer to Vietta.” Fiore said, his own voice sounding too far away for it to be real.

As they trudged on in the snow, Dionne still holding his hand, Fiore thought that even though it didn’t make sense, it would soon. The universe had led him to Dionne and with him, the insanity wasn’t so suffocating.

The desolate winter was not something to fear.

Tale Twelve-Where love strings sting

Dimitri, a bunny doll

Gifted to Camden one Christmas Eve

Dimitri stayed close with Camden

He’d stay silent for Camden

He was but a toy

A thing to be quietly played with

A creature to coax out joy

But Dimitri is many things

He can be a monster

He can be a dream

He can be a human

He’s a thing that isn’t seen

And when Camden grew into a teen

Dimitri was a boy

Who still loved Camden

Camden knew not what he was

But cared for him all the same

From friends to boyfriends

Nothing would keep them apart

Christmas Eve came again

Dimitri revealed the truth of his nature

Sewed Camden close to his own body

Now he’s more human than ever

With Camden by his side

Christmas is made all the better

Tale Thirteen-To a safe place

Nathalia held onto Waylen, burying her face into her older brother’s shirt. He was carrying her away to somewhere “safer”, away from their parents, who wanted to sacrifice her to Yamileth.

She had heard of Yamileth before, the snowy angel who was supposed to stop the cold to anyone who gave her a worthy enough little girl. Nathalia loved her, but she hoped that by loving her, then Yamileth would stop asking for sacrifices. That the cold wouldn’t come and everyone would be happier.

It hadn’t happened, though. Her older cousin, Novalie, may have spoken up against the sacrifices, but nobody would listen to her, so Novalie sent them both away.

Nathalia hoped that the place would actually protect her, that she wouldn’t have to worry about Yamileth again.

“We’re here.” Waylen said.

Nathalia turned around and saw that right in front of her was a dark, looming house, with cracked windows and dirtied yellow curtains, the front door a crack open and a faint, white glow coming from inside.

She held onto Waylen tighter than before, but he didn’t stop. He continued towards the house, saying to her:

“I know it looks scary, but I promise, she won’t hurt you.”

He didn’t continue, but she didn’t run. Where would she go?

In his arms, she knew that the bad would be behind her. Her beating heart, her spiraling thoughts, they were not to be listened to. The house may not have been beautiful, but it would protect her.

Waylen loved her too dearly to hurt her.

Tale Fourteen-Christmas angel

High up in heavens

Yamileth awaited for Christmas

For once it came

She gave the people joy

Bringing warmth to all

And keeping away the cold

The children would smile

Their hearts would rise from within

Yamileth saw extra happiness in the little girl’s eyes

Perhaps because they had her spark

Yet somewhere along the lines

The snow got too bitter

The people wanted “real” warmth

Their misery twisted their souls

And they saw Yamileth as a demon

Not an angel

Little girls got sacrificed to her

In hopes the cold would go away

She couldn’t do that

So she took the sorrow spirits

Kept them as safe as she could

Maybe one day she could stop the sacrifices

But always, she would love the kids

For deep down, Yamileth was a Christmas angel 

Tale Fifteen-Snowy scares

There once was a little clown girl

She was bright like a cupcake

Her name was Konfetti

And she smiled like stars

For laughter and whimsy was what she loved to bring

Christmas Eve made her sing

On a foggy, white snow day

Konfetti went outside to play

She made snow angels and a snowmen

She’d talk to herself, in her mind, she had friends

Another little clown girl was right next door

Making snow monsters galore!

That’s right!

Not snow men, but snow MONSTERS!

With twisting claws and leering grins

It’d bring a terror no one could send away

But not Konfetti

She wanted to stay

So she joined the other clown girl with her snow scares

She made a new friend called Spooky

And no one could compare 

Tale Sixteen-Enchantments of Christmas

“Well, I think you should play in the snow!” Paola beamed.

She couldn’t actually smile, as she was a ballerina marionette, but Saorise imagined that she was trying to smile and so, she set out to the snow, only to stop at the door and say:

“I’m not wearing anything suitable for this kind of weather. Won’t I be cold?”

“There are coats on the coat rack that you can use.”

Saorise turned her head towards the coat rack next to the front door and picked a white fur one, a coat that a rich woman would have worn and then, she took Paola with her.

…………………………………………………………………

“What is this place?” Saorise asked as she rolled up a snow ball.

She was making snow balls and piling them up as a pyramid, talking to Paola, who she set on the porch of the mansion.

Only seconds ago, Saorise was celebrating Christmas at her Grandparents’ house and then, when she held Paola, she got sent to a mansion decorated for the holidays surrounded by snow, the kind of dreamy place that would be in Christmas cards and so, she wondered…what was the place supposed to be?

“It’s…it’s my home. I lived here. It’s always pretty, but it’s the prettiest on Christmas!” Paola said cheerfully.

As Saorise made the snowballs, she looked deep into the surrounding woods, the woods that were full of shadows, that sometimes had moving forms. She wasn’t sure wha was there, but it looked too dreary, too foreign for her to venture.

She pushed away the small, lingering sense of unease and continued to make snowballs, not minding her cold hands. It wasn’t that cold, anyway.

…………………………………………………………………

Saorise had spent a good few hours making snow angels and snow balls and so, after a while, she went back inside, taking Paola with her.

Back inside, to where the Christmas tree glittered with ornaments and tinsel and the long table was set with a dinner fit for royalty, with gleaming roasted potatoes and colorful vegetables, candelabras flickering in a way that almost looked like winking.

Saorise put Paola on a bench and took off the coat, again, wondering how such a dinner could be made.

She didn’t complain, though. She just walked over to the table, still holding Paola, ready to live out her dream-

The floors creaked with her steps. There seemed to be more dark shadows than there were before, shadows that twisted and turned…and the fireplace…it stopped…everything was so, so cold….

One of the lamps seemed to glow a little bit more than the rest. It was a tall, elegant lamp with a white lampshade, decorated with pearls twirling in a way reminiscent of wedding dresses and angels…angels…

“Hello, girls.”

Tale Seventeen-A chilling void

Christmas has settled in yet again

There’s gifts to be given

And memories to be lived

But for some, nothing happens

No one’s there to bring the cheer

And holidays lose their meaning

When nobody is near

A sense of longing mixed with regret

The snow keeps falling

But the home is quiet

There was a time when magic was anywhere

When nothing meant everything

A time when time itself seemed to go on forever

Now there’s no calls and no visits

In the heart

There is but a chilling void 

Tale Eighteen-Home is the claws

“You’re all ready to go?” Dad asked.

Fannie nodded. She was at the front door, wearing her pretty purple dress. She wanted to look all nice for him, because what she was going to do was very, very important.

Her parents stood at the front door with her, then, Mom opened the door and out they went.

………………………………………………………………….

“Will Samael have toys?” Fannie asked.

She was sitting in the back of the car, Dad was driving, Mom was sitting next to him. They were taking her to the woods, where she would go and be with Samael for a bit. By doing that, he would stop the cold. He’d bring her back home, apparently.

Fannie didn’t understand how he could stop the cold or why she had to be with him, but her parents told her that he was magical and she was the right person for him, so she did not ask any questions. If her parents said so, then they must have been right.

“He’ll have lots of them. He wants you to be happy.” Mom said.

Lots of toys? That sounded like fun, but where would she even go? How could she find Samael?

The car jerked to a stop and Fannie hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt at the urging of her parents, running out into the vastness of white.

………………………………………………………………….

Fannie walked down the snow, looking for something that would help her. Her parents had just dropped her off and then drove away, leaving her behind. Maybe if she kept walking, then she would find Samael.

She wore tights underneath her dress, which looked nice, but didn’t do anything to protect her from the biting, bitter air. Her parents had told her to “dress like she was going to a Christmas party”, but why? Why couldn’t she just wear pajamas? Her blue nightgown back home was so comfortable and would be so much nicer to wear than-

Claws. White, long claws reaching out from the snow. Her parents told her to look for the claws and grab for them, so that’s what Fannie did.

The claws were Samael’s. Samael would protect her.

Tale Nineteen-Watching, waiting

Every Christmas

Flykra would watch the humans with their families

All together and happy were they

In just one another’s company

But Flykra knew how to make them smile more

A snowy show for them

Magic straight from her claws

She could pull snowflakes from her arms

Could make the snow a kaleidoscope of colors

Just like rainbows reflected in the jagged ice

The sun’s glow in the early morning winter sky

She’d only show herself to few

She’d watch and wait

Only the sparkle of Christmas

Could keep her around

Nothing much would happen in the months before

There would be a span of nothingness

And then would come Flykra

Bringing whimsy

For as long as the holidays would keep her

Tale Twenty-Better together

Spooky grunted as she placed the Christmas snowman blow mold on the ground. There was so much snow that the blow mold wouldn’t stay on properly and though she was a magical clown, it wasn’t like her powers would make it easier. She could not use her hands but levitating the decorations still wouldn’t make them stand up right.

She knew that she did not have to, but she wanted to. Decorations were beautiful, Halloween or Christmas. It brought her joy to bring life to the dark, broken-down house with the cracked, cobwebbed windows that she and her clown wife, Scary, shared. There was just a sense of morbid whimsy with the season of the holly-jolly mixed with the macabre, but…

Why couldn’t the decorations stand up the way they were supposed to? Why were they so heavy? Why-

“Do you need help?”

Spooky turned around. Standing right behind her was Scary, her black and purple hair cascading down her pale face, her wide, white eyes were streaked with concern.

“You want to help? But you don’t like Christmas.” Spooky said, because didn’t Scary flinch from anything related to Christmas? At the very moment, Scary was fidgeting like she wanted to run.

And she was offering to help her?

“Yes, I know that I don’t like it, but you working by yourself isn’t fair. So, I want to help.” Scary said with a sharp-toothed smile.

Spooky stared at her for a long time. Her heart was swirling inside of her at the prospect of her and her wife working together, putting up Christmas decorations, bringing the cheer.

And then, she said that Scary could help and the both of them decorated for Christmas, together.

Tale Twenty-One-Stay away

There’s a creature called Amethyst

Forever discontent

She watches families every Christmas

She wishes for friends

She longs for the closeness of couples

When Nelle and Rhodes walked out in the snow

Amethyst snatched Rhodes away and she wouldn’t let him go

She’s made him a monster with her magic

Forever wandering the Earth

He looks for his love

But she’ll keep him away

He’s going to stay away from his hopes

Hollow heart on Christmas Eve

Amethyst has given him a miserable heart

But how happy is she?

Tale Twenty-Two-Fractured friendship

Years and years ago

There were once two friends

Sardonyx and Zuleika

As close as close could be

They spent sleepovers together

And went to each other’s birthday parties

But no time was brighter

Than Christmas time

For in the woods, they’d put on a Christmas play

Zuleika was a bunny

And Sardonyx was a snow princess

There was no rhyme or reason to their play

Just magic and madness

All was right and pretty

Until Blodwyn came along

It happened in middle school

Blodwyn liked Zuleika

The two became fast friends

Then it became a group of three

Sardonyx was included but she still felt left behind

Why did Zuleika like her?

Nobody hated Sardonyx yet the jealousy grew strong

It lasted to teen years, it was that long

And one Christmas, Sardonyx could not take it anymore

She burned Blodwyn and stabbed Zuleika

But they both got her, in the end

Christmas is about being together

Yet a bond is all fractured

Just because there were more than two friends

Tale Twenty-Three-Rot away

Dimitri’s a bunny toy

Left in someone’s trash

He was a Christmas gift for a little boy

Then he was thrown away

He knows he can be human if he tried

If he found the boy again

His soft heart is all tangled up

Snow falls around the trash can

Happiness is all around

Yet Dimitri is still all alone

Rotting away

But he won’t give up

He’s not a toy

He’s magic

And if Dimitri dreams enough

He’ll see that boy again on Christmas

He’ll be human

They will be together

No matter what

Tale Twenty-Four-Bonded forevermore

On a Christmas Eve night

Rhodes wandered the winter woods

All alone and losing hope

He saw her standing under a tree

The very tree where his body lay

He knew not when the evil woman would come again

But his wife stood under that tree

Rhodes ran towards her as fast as he could

Swept Nelle up in his arms, kissed her, as he should

She held him close, told him she missed him

Off they went before that evil woman could come for them

Safe they are in their own little house

A Christmas Eve together

Now nothing can keep them apart

Tale Twenty-Five-Never too monstrous

Grant’s an elf, but not the jolly kind

He’s got to eat dead birds all of the time

He lurks in the darkness, when it’s late at night

His friend Parker doesn’t find him a gory sight

And yet all the same

He feels all alone

Like a monster that no one wants

He doesn’t know where it’s from

But especially on Christmas

When he’s crouched on the snow

The corpse of a bird in his claws

Grant’s heart does not glow