Christmas Once Upon A Time

Short Story by Thomas Harrison Humphreys + Interview

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My great-great-great uncle’s story has been told so many times and in so many ways. I suppose he is as infamous as he is famous; for he was that very man who had to learn, and in the end did learn, “to keep Christmas well.” And so, my family has always kept Christmas well, at least as well as anyone could.  Now, I don’t know how it happens in your families, but it seems that once someone has been visited by netherworld spirits, … well, it seems those specters tend to be less than shy toward that person and their descendants.  Perhaps it is no more than a relaxed feeling of familiarity that lends itself to such ethereal boldness, but whatever it is, my family has since been visited many times by these phantoms.  I myself experienced such a visitation only nights ago from that flame-headed phantasm that so long ago helped to remove the humbug from my great-great-great uncle.  It, and I do say it, appeared from nowhere that night as I awoke from a dream. There, in midair above my bedroom floor, the Ghost of Christmas Past bade me follow.  I did as I was told, and this is what transpired throughout that uncanny night.