A Haunted Christmas/Part 1

It was Christmas Day on the third year that Empath was home for good from Psychelia. Inside the dining room, most of the Smurfs have gathered around for the big Christmas feast that Greedy and his kitchen staff have put together. "This year, my little Smurfs, I would like Narrator to smurf us the blessing for this wonderful meal, if we will all smurf our heads while he prays," Papa Smurf said.

"Thank you, Papa Smurf," Narrator said. "Mother Nature, we as creatures in this forest humbly thank you for the wonderful bounty that you have smurfed for all of us, for nothing in the forest can survive without your provision, and we ask that you will continue to provide for us everything that we need to live in our everyday smurfy lives that will honor the gifts that you smurf upon us. And in this, so let it be."

"Before we sit down to enjoy our meal, I would like to smurf my own blessing for the meal," Tapper said. "Oh, Father God the Almighty, in whom we live and move and smurf our being, may you bless the bounty that you have smurfed us and may it nourish our bodies as You seek to nourish our souls and spirits, and may we seek to honor You with our lives in the way that we smurf. In Your Son Jesus' name, I pray. Amen."

And then the Smurfs all sat down and passed around the baked cornucopia as well as the potatoes, the gravy, the corn, the mixed vegetables, the biscuits, and the butter. Polaris Psyche, who sat next to Empath and Smurfette, didn't have anything on his plate except for the mashed potatoes.

"Mmmm, now this is your best Christmas meal yet, Greedy," Hefty said after he stuffed his mouth full of food.

"I don't know how he does it, but Greedy always manages to outsmurf himself every year with his Christmas meal," Brainy said.

"Just wait until we smurf out the desserts," Gelato said. "Then you'll see for yourself how better this meal is compared to last year's meal."

"I hate...not having a Christmas meal by Greedy," Grouchy said.

"So how are you enjoying your Christmas this year, Polaris?" Empath asked after he had eaten a forkful of the food that was on his plate.

"It is a very interesting celebration that this one now has the opportunity of experiencing firsthand, Empath," Polaris said in his usual flat tone. "This one appreciates the concern coming from every Smurf to share that experience with one who has spent most of his life without any sort of celebrations whatsoever."

"It's a good thing that we smurfed lots of food around the time of the harvest before the winter came, Polaris," Smurfette said. "I don't like the idea of smurfing through the entire winter without anything to eat."

"This smurf understands how you feel, Smurfette," Empath said. "There were some Christmases where there was little food for us to enjoy, but somehow we always managed to have enough to get us through the entire winter."

"This one is wondering what it must have been like for you to have your first Christmas with your fellow Smurfs, Smurfette," Polaris said.

"Ooooh, I was afraid that you or Empath were going to ask me that, Polaris," Smurfette said with a shiver. "That was the winter where we had to abandon our village because there was a fire at the smurfhouse, and in our finding a place to be warm and smurfed, we came across what we thought was a haunted castle."

"A haunted castle?" Empath asked. "You mean like Quarrel Castle, where Papa Smurf's human friends Selwyn and Tallulah are living in?"

"No, this haunted castle was different, and as I said, we thought that the castle was being haunted, Empath," Smurfette answered. "Anyway, it all started around December when we were smurfing up all the food we could from the forest." - As Smurfette told her story, Empath and Polaris could see that the village was busy working together in their preparation for the first snowfall, which Tracker predicted could be any day at that point. Everybody was busy except for Lazy, who was busy sleeping next to a tree with his snoring causing a fallen leaf to be lifted up and down from the spot he was sleeping in.

"Papa Smurf, Papa Smurf, look what I have smurfed," Clumsy said, sounding very excited as he approached the village leader with a chestnut he had found in the forest. "And there's a whole tree full of them that we can..."

Suddenly something tapped Clumsy on the shoulder to get his attention. He turned and saw that it was a squirrel who looked very angry at Clumsy for taking something that was not his.

"Uh, gee, Mr. Squirrel, I'm sorry that I didn't know that was yours," Clumsy said, handing back the chestnut that he had unknowingly taken.

"Squirrels must prepare for the winter as well, Clumsy," Papa Smurf said after the squirrel left with his chestnut. He then saw Hefty, Vanity, and Grouchy entering the village, each of them rolling a single apple. "Ah, here come the apples," he said. "Smurf them over there, Hefty."

"Yes, sir, Papa Smurf," Hefty said. "All right, Smurfs, follow me this way."

"I hate 'this way'," Grouchy said as he and Vanity followed Hefty in the direction he was going with his apple.

At the storehouse, Smurfette was helping Handy load it with bags of food that were brought in by Farmer and Miller. She attached a hook to the last bag that was lying around outside. "Okay, Handy, smurf it away," Smurfette said as she tugged on the rope attached to the hook.

"There, that will smurf it," Handy said after he lifted up the bag by the rope into the storehouse.

"We're all set, Papa Smurf," Smurfette said as soon as he appeared. "The smurfhouse is now fully loaded with everything we need."

"Excellent, excellent," Papa Smurf said. "Now we'll have enough food to last us all winter. As soon as we have our first snowfall, we can begin smurfing up decorations for our Christmas celebration."

"What is Christmas, Papa Smurf?" Smurfette asked.

"It is a holiday that the humans celebrate around the time of the first snowfall, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "It is when people sing songs and smurf presents to one another to show how much they care for those that they wish to see safe and smurf during the three months of winter. Of course, we used to call that celebration the Winter Solstice, which smurfs place on what Mother Nature and Father Time call the shortest day of the year."

"Is there anything I need to smurf in order to celebrate it, Papa Smurf?" Smurfette asked, sounding curious.

"We do need Smurfs to put up decorations such as the tinsel and the ornaments for the Christmas tree, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "However, there is a special plant that I know about that you might be interested in. It's called mistletoe, and it's customary that whoever smurfs under the mistletoe must get a kiss from somebody who loves them."

"Ooooh, that sounds real smurfy, Papa Smurf," Smurfette said. "I'm just wondering who I might kiss under the mistletoe if I hang some up somewhere."

Papa Smurf chuckled. "I'll leave that part up to you to decide on, Smurfette. Anyway, I've got some things to smurf care of in my laboratory right now. I'll smurf you later in case you have anymore questions about Christmas."

"Sure, Papa Smurf, I'll smurf you later," Smurfette said as she watched the village leader walk back to his laboratory.

To be expanded on.