It was Christmas Eve, and everyone was preparing to celebrate the festive holiday season. They were trimming trees, putting up decorations, singing songs, and giving gifts. Out of all the people in town, there was one person who wasn't really into these sorts of festivities.
Abby wasn't a fan of Christmas festivities, as she found them terrifically boring. She preferred Halloween over Christmas, because she found it to be a lot more fun. She didn't like the colors red and green and preferred the colors orange and black. The holiday at the end of October was always the best time of year for Abby, as she was known as the town prankster. Abby loved Halloween, and she celebrated the spooky holiday all year long. She loved the cute monsters, the silly pranks, the astonishing costumes, and all the delicious candy she could eat. Many people in town considered her unusual because she was such a big fan of monsters, mischief, magic, and rather frightening things.
Abby wanted to convince her friends that mischief and magic could be celebrated more than just once a year. So, before Christmas Eve arrived, she decided to throw a witch-themed party for her neighbors.
She wrote down the invitations, put them in apothecary-style bottles, and sent them to the people she wanted to invite.
After she sent the invitations, it was time to start decorating and setting things up.
Abby spent the afternoon decorating her house for the party. In no time, she had turned it into a magical land filled with cauldrons, potions, hats, and books.
"I'm so excited for this party!" she thought as she finished hanging up a big, black banner. "I just love to throw Halloween-themed parties, any time of year! Last summer, I held an awesome monster bash! Too bad those kids weren't very impressed with my scare tactics."
As she finished putting up the last of the decorations for the party, she took a few steps back and examined her work. Everything was amazing. The high ceiling was ornamented with small witches on broomsticks and cats, along with some large gothic lanterns and orange and black balloons. The banner, which read "Merry Witchmas!" which was decorated with a cat, a broom, and a witch hat, was right in the middle, and in front of that was a disco ball. The walls were decorated with black and orange garland. Some colored spotlights also dotted the ceiling. In one corner, there was a black plastic tree decorated with orange and black ornaments. On the floor were a bunch of round tables with chairs surrounding them. There was also a table with various drinks and snacks, some plastic cups, bowls, plates, and eating utensils, and an empty punch bowl on top.
"Looks like I'm done!" thought Abby. "This will be almost like the wickedly wonderful Halloween party I threw last year. It'll be magnificent!"
Abby looked at the clock on the wall. "The party starts in an hour," she thought. "So that means I have to get ready myself!"
She knew she had to get going, so she raced to her bedroom to change into the appropriate attire for the party. She was almost ready for the night that was ahead.
Soon, the guests arrived. Nobody was quite certain why someone like Abby would throw a witch-themed party in the middle of December or why they had come to this party in the first place. When they got to her front porch, one of them knocked on the door.
As the door opened, they saw Abby dressed in a green and black witch costume.
"Welcome, my dear witches and wizards!" said Abby. "I am glad you all came, for I hope you all will enjoy this hauntingly elegant evening."
As the guests came in, one of them told her, "Abby, it's Christmas Eve. I don't understand why you invited us to a Halloween-themed party during this time of year."
"Well, because I love to conjure the most spellbinding events during any season or any holiday," said Abby. "Please, do not worry. I'm not going to hex any of you during this bewitching party."
She chuckled, but the guests didn't get her joke. They thought she was just fooling them into coming to this so-called "magical" party.
"Please, follow me if you will," said Abby. "I have wonderful witch-themed games for you to play and magical refreshments at the table in the dining room."
The guests entered the rooms of the house to take a look around. A few of the guests helped themselves to some root beer floats, or "witches' brew", as Abby called them.
"I don't understand," said Xavier. "Abby is such a strange young lady. Why would she throw spooky, monster-themed parties during any month? We only have these types of parties during Halloween, but Abby just likes to celebrate Halloween almost all year. Why is she like that?"
"I don't know," said Jennie. "Maybe she just likes anything spooky and monster-themed. She must think that they might be a lot of fun, and she believes that one simple holiday should never be just once a year. Nobody knows why Abby wants to add a little mischief and magic to any month. Maybe it's because she's eccentric and cunning, or maybe she's just obsessed with Halloween."
"It could be both," said Xavier. "After all, Abby really loves to decorate and host unusual parties. I understand that she likes to invite friends over to make crafts, but I don't believe in all this hocus-pocus stuff."
Meanwhile, in the living room, Abby had prepared party games for her guests to play.
"Gather around, dear witches and wizards!" she said. "Are you ready to play Witch Pitch?"
"Witch Pitch?" asked Cassandra. "What's that?"
"It's a game that challenges you to toss candy corn into a cauldron," said Abby. "It's fairly easy. Have fun!"
Some of the guests took turns tossing candy corn into the large, plastic cauldron. Most of them liked it, but weren't so sure about playing silly little games like this at a party.
"This is little kid stuff," muttered Cassandra. "I can't believe Abby makes us do stuff like this."
"You know what, Cass?" said Bruno. "Abby may be a little crazy, but that's just the way she is. She just thinks odd and creepy is cool while some of us don't."
An hour later, the guests got tired of the silly party games and activities and went back to chatting and munching on the snacks. They even talked about how silly Abby was. As Abby looked around the house, she could tell that nobody was enjoying themselves. The party had been going for an hour, and some people just weren't interested in the snacks, the decorations, or the games. Abby knew something had to be done. It was time to kick things up a notch.
Fifteen minutes later, Abby called the guests to the basement.
"Allright, everyone! It's time for some spellcasting!"
As the guests crowded around a table that Abby was standing on, she pulled out a magic wand, waved it in the air, and casted magic spells that no one could ever pull off in real life.
But none of the guests seemed interested. It all just seemed really fake. They could tell that Abby was just using special effects.
"Abby, no matter what you do, this party is just so lame!" said Willow. "It's a total waste of time! It's almost like a repeat of the party you had on Halloween! Now you want to have another lame and so-called 'scary' party on Christmas Eve?"
Abby stopped and listened. She understood now. No one was enjoying her party, even though she thought they would.
"Oh...you don't like this party?" she asked. "Well, I just wanted to show you that mischief and magic could be celebrated all year, not just Halloween. To me, enchanting parties and spooky details are fun if you're used to it! I find normal festivities terrifically boring, but Halloween is always the best time of the year for me. Monsters, mischief, and magic should be something that everyone should enjoy!"
Everyone understood. Abby was strange, but she just wanted others to be happy, even though she was kind of obsessed with anything spooky.
So, everyone tried to listen to Abby's advice and enjoy the party while they could. They had some of the snacks and chatted, even though the didn't want to play any of her games. Abby didn't mind, as she was happy that the party was going the way she wanted it to go.
Two or three hours later, it was time for everyone to go home.
"Thank you all for coming," said Abby as she handed each of her guests an orange gift bag. "I hope to see you darlings during my next bewitching party!"
She laughed at her own joke as the guests walked out the door.
As the guests left, they could have sworn that they heard Abby call out "Merry Witchmas!" as they left.
"What a strange girl," they all thought.
Everyone could agree that Abby wasn't like most of them, but she had her ways. They knew she could be as creepy and mischievous anytime she wanted to, and they all knew it was just the way she was.