It was Christmas time in Pennsylvania! Houses were decorated with holiday cheer and streets were packed with last minute shoppers!

Hotels everywhere were booked! But there was one hotel that didn't have that many guests.

At the Scare B&B, Vampirina, also known as Vee, was putting the final touches on the decorations with her family.

"This is gonna be great!" Vee said, hanging the black garland on the mantel.

"And Chef Remy and I will make a spooktacular Christmas dinner!" said Oxana.

The doorbell screamed. The door opened by itself, letting in Vee's best friends, Poppy, Bridget, and Miranda.

"Merry Christmas, Vee!" said Poppy, holding out a Christmas present.

"Yeah! Merry Christmas, Vee!" Bridget had a present for Vee too.

"Aw! Thanks, you guys!" Vee hugged her dearest friends. "You can put those under the tree! I'll open them Christmas morning!"

Bridget stared at Vee's Christmas tree. It was nothing but sharp, claw-like branches weighed with yellow lights and skull ornaments. On top the tree was a twisted looking silver star.

"That's...your Christmas tree?" Bridget said nervously.

"Yep! Isn't it great?" Vee spun around. "I love Christmas! It's one of my favorite holidays!"

"I didn't even know monsters celebrated Christmas!" said Poppy.

"Same here. I always thought Halloween was a monster's fav holiday." Miranda said.

"That's because we monsters didn't celebrate Christmas." said Boris, hanging up the stockings.

"What?!" the humans exclaimed.

Vee nodded. "Yeah. Back then, monsters never even heard of Christmas. But one day, one brave and famous monster discovered Christmas and reinvented it for monsters! Thanks to him, monsters everywhere celebrated Christmas!"

"And that legendary monster is coming here to spend the holidays at the hotel tonight!" Boris said excitedly.

"Really? Who is he?" asked Poppy.

"His name is Jack Skellington! The Pumpkin King!" Vee danced around the room with joy.

"Pumpkin King?"

"Yeah! He's the spirit of Halloween! And he's coming here!"

"The spirit of Halloween discovered Christmas for monsters?!" Poppy gasped.

Bridget gulped. "Uh, judging by his name, I'm guessing he's a skeleton..."

"Not just any skeleton!" Demi said, popping before the startled girls. "The spookiest, scariest, most horrifying skeleton in the world!"

Bridget whimpered. "Uh, I think I should go home now..."

"Hold on, Bridget!" Vee grabbed her friend's arm. "You don't have to be scared! Jack Skellington is friendly!"

"Yeah! The friendliest skeleton you know!" Demi said. "And hopefully friendly enough for me to get an autograph!"

Bridget felt a tiny bit better. But spooky and scary things don't agree with her. The doorbell shrieked again, making Bridget shriek.

"It's him!" Boris said, rushing to the door first. Vee immediately rushed beside him.

The door slowly creeped open and standing before the vampires was Jack Skellington!"

"Hello! You must be Boris Hauntley!" Jack greeted warmly. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Skellington!" Boris chortled. "It's an honor to have you here!"

Jack waved a bony finger. "Ah, ah, ah. It's not just me. You're forgetting my whole family, Boris." The skeleton walked inside and motioned his family to come inside.

A woman with blue skin covered in stitches walked in with a warm smile. "Hello, Mr. Hauntley."

"This is my lovely wife, Sally." Jack introduced. "And these are my children. Julie, Sam, Sarah, Jenny, Judy, and baby Jackson."

Julie, the oldest skeleton, had a huge grin on her skull. Sam, the mad scientist of the family, eyed the room carefully with his wry, twisted grin. Jenny and Judy, the twins, stared quietly at their new surroundings, and Sarah had her nose socket in a good book.

And baby Jackson...

Jack gasped. "Sally! Where's Jackson?!"

Sally looked left and right. "Oh, no! He's wandered off again!"

The Pumpkin King sighed, putting a hand to his skull. "Ever since he learned to walk, he's been disappearing like the Invisible Man!"

"He probably went to explore the house, Father." Sarah said, still reading.

"Then it's settled!" Jack announced. "Let's go find Jackson!" He and his family ventured into the haunted house.

Meanwhile, inside the bathroom, Bridget was hiding while Poppy and Miranda tried to coax her out. She hasn't seen Jack yet and she plans on not seeing him period.

"Bridget! Come on out!" Miranda said. "You'll starve in there! What are you gonna eat? Toilet paper?"

"You can't hide in there forever!" Poppy said.

"Yes, I can! At least until the scariest skeleton alive is gone!" Bridget said to the door. She froze however when a strange sound came from behind her.

Suck, suck, suck, suck.

Bridget turned around and saw the most unnerving monster she's ever seen. It looked like a toddler. A blue skinned toddler sucking on a pacifier looking directly at Bridget with empty eye sockets.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Bridget screamed and ran out of the bathroom, nearly knocking over Poppy and Miranda.

"WHOA! Bridget! What's wrong?!" Poppy asked, seeing her friend run away.

"Hello, there."

The girls turned and saw a skeleton with spiky red hair wearing a lab coat. He ran a forked tongue over his bony mouth. "Perhaps you would help me with a little...experiment..." Sam hissed.

"No thanks!" Miranda took Poppy by the arm and ran away with Sam chasing them.

Bridget ran into a different room. She slammed the door shut and collected her breath. The poor girl gulped when she realized she was locked in a dark and scary room.

"Oh, hello there, little one!"

A tall figure came through the darkness. Jack Skellington loomed over the terrified girl.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Bridget screamed and tried to open the door, but it was jammed. She looked back to the spooky skeleton man and cowered. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Hurt you?!" Jack exclaimed. "Why, I would never hurt someone!" He smiled. "But I must say, that was a very exquisite scream!"

"Huh?" Bridget saw the skeleton smiling and not scaring her.

"Where are my manners? I'm Jack Skellington. Merry Christmas!" He shook Bridget's hand vigorously.

"I-I-I'm Bridget..." Bridget stared at this strange skeleton. He sure looked like a scary skeleton, but he acted nice. Just like Chef Remy Bones.

Just then, a noise came from Jack's suitcase. It shook and rattled itself off the bed!

"AAAH! What's in that bag?!" Bridget hid behind Jack.

"I don't know..." Jack said. "I didn't pack anything alive..." He looked at Bridget and Bridget looked at him.

The skeleton smiled. "How exciting! Let's open it!"

"Excited?! Aren't you scared?!" asked Bridget.

"Yes! That's why I'm excited!" Jack said. Before Bridget could say anothing else, Jack opened the case and out came a ghost dog, barking and flying around the room like a bat.

"A GHOST!" Bridget yelped.

"Zero!" Jack beamed. "You stowed away in my suitcase! What a happy surprise!"

Zero barked happily and licked Jack's face.

"Zero?" Bridget said timidly.

Zero saw Bridget and smiled. He cuddled up against Bridget and let out a happy howl.

"Awww! You're so sweet!" Bridget hugged the little ghost dog. "And you're pretty cute too!"

Zero licked Bridget's cheek. She giggled and snuggled with Zero.

"What a good scare!" Jack said, petting Zero.

"Good scare?" Bridget was confused. "I didn't think being scared was good!"

"Why, of course it's good!" Jack replied. "A good scare always make life more exciting! Why, take Zero for instance, he's my best friend and I thought he was going to be all alone on the holidays! And yet, here he is! You see, a good scare is like a nice surprise!"

Bridget blinked. "Huh. I never thought of it like that. I guess that's why Vee and her family like being scared."

Jack got down on his knee to be level with his new friend. "So, tell me, Bridget. Do you like a good scare?"

"Noooo way!" Bridget shook her head. "I spook too easily! I mean, I'm not scary like you so I can't handle being scared!"

"Hmm, have you ever tried being scary?"

"Me? Scary?"

"Sure! The most fun way to handle fear is become fear! Observe!" Jack put two fingers in his mouth and stretched out his jaw like it was made of rubber! He snarled and bared his yellow jagged teeth.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Bridget covered her eyes. "T-That was scary!"

"Now you try!"

Bridget opened her eyes. "Me? Um...I'll try." She made a mean, scowly face and let out a big, "ROOOOOOOOAR!"

Jack actually backed away. "Oh my! That was brilliant!"

"Really?!" Bridget smiled.

"More than brilliant! That was inspired!" Jack applauded.

Bridget wasn't afraid of Jack anymore. He really was a nice guy, just like Vee said.

"Okay, now I've seen everything."

Jack and Bridget turned to see Miranda with Vee, Poppy, Sam, and baby Jackson.

"To think, Scaredy cat Bridget being scary!" Miranda chuckled. "It's a Christmas miracle!"

"And making friends with the scariest skeleton on Earth!" Vee said. "Way to go, Bridget!"

"Yeah! And you've got to try this green hot cocoa Sam made!" Puppy took a sip from her mug. "It's amazing!"

Sam proudly raised his goggles. "My formula for monster cocoa was a success! I knew Miranda and Poppy would be the perfect subjects!"

Jack took Bridget's hand. "Care to join us for a Christmas party, Bridget?"

"I'd love to!" Bridget agreed.

Courtesy of Chef Remy Bones, the most delicious monster holiday meal was complete. The Hauntleys, the Skellingtons, and Vee's human friends were having the spookiest Christmas ever!

"Here's to new friends!" Jack toasted his cup of green cocoa. "And Merry Christmas to us all!"

"God bless us everyone!" Bridget announced.

The Hauntleys and the Skellingtons looked at Bridget surprised.

"What?" Bridget asked nervously.

Jack shook his head. "Nothing, that...was the sweetest thing I've ever heard." He put his around Bridget in a big hug.

Everyone gathered in a big group monster hug.

Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year indeed, to humans and monsters alike.