The Christmas Witch titlecard

There used to be an alligator under my bed.

When it was time to go to sleep, I had to be very careful

because I knew he was there.

But whenever I looked, he hid...or something.

So I'd call Mom and Dad.

But they never saw it.

It was up to me.
I just had to do something about that alligator.

So I went to the kitchen to get some alligator bait.

I filled a paper bag full of things alligators like to eat.

I put a peanut butter sandwich, some fruit and the last piece of pie in the garage.

I put cookies down the hall.

I left fresh vegetables on the stairs.

I put soda and some candy next to my bed.
Then I watched...

There was once a very unbeautiful, very rocky, rotten island. It had acres of sharp gravel and volcanoes that belched fire and smoke, spewed hot lava, and spat poison arrows and double-headed toads.


The spiny, thorny, twisted plants that grew there had never a flower of any kind.
There was an earthquake an hour, black tornadoes, lightning sprees with racking thunder, squalls, cyclones, and dust storms.

At night it froze; all the living things stopped moving and turned to ice. But the volcanoes kept exploding, and the lightest breeze was a hurricane. At sunrise everything thawed out and moved again....

Horace P. Blumpoe was a grump. Everyone in his neighborhood thought so. They all called him Blumpoe the Grumpoe.


"Wanda Huggins, I'm going to report you!" he growled at the paper girl whenever his newspaper didn't land exactly in the middle of his front porch.

"You dented my can!" he yelled at Norman the garbage man.

"I expect my mail at three o'clock sharp!" he fussed at Roger, the postman.

Almost everyone knew better than to ring his doorbell on Halloween.


The only things Horace P. Blumpoe wasn't grumpy about were his sister, Edith, whom he visited every year in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, and his...

Amos is an old dog

who lives on an old couch

in an old house


that used to be filled with activity.


Once the kids were all grown up and had moved away, things were kind of quiet.

Mr. and Mrs. Bobson went out a lot...

but they never took Amos with them anymore.


"Where do they go?" Amos wondered.
"If only I could go along," he thought.

One day after the Bobsons had gone out,
Amos was awakened by a loud, persistent BUZZZZZZZZ.


He hadn't caught a fly in years,
but he decided to give it a try.

He tried and he tried.
Finally, he went after it with his paw.

He missed the fly but had hit something else, for suddenly......

Moe the dog was cold. His breath turned to ice on his whiskers. His ears were warm, but his earmuffs gave him a headache.
"I can't stand this," he said to his best friend Arlene. "A whole week's vacation to sit around and freeze."
"I can't stand it either," Arlene mumbled through her muffler. "Let's take in a movie."
So they trudged through the snow to see what was playing at the Roxy.


It turned out to be a double feature: Polar Voyage and Whales of the Arctic. Halfway through the first feature the heat broke down.
"Can you believe this?" groaned Moe. His popcorn had frozen solid. "The movies were...

Once upon a time there was a very old man and a very old woman. They lived in a nice clean house which had flowers all around it, except where the door was. But they couldn't be happy because they were so very lonely.


"If we only had a cat!" sighed the very old woman.
"A cat?" asked the very old man.
"Yes, a sweet little fluffy cat," said the very old woman.
"I will get you a cat, my dear," said the very old man.

And he set out over the hills to look for one. He climbed over the sunny hills. He trudged through the cool valleys. He walked a long, long time and at last he came to a hill which was...

One afternoon at an elegant garden party, young Elbert heard a word he had never heard before.


The word floated by Elbert like a small storm cloud. It was ugly and covered with dark, bristly hairs. With a swift flick of his wrist, Elbert snatched the word from the air and stuffed it into his back pocket.


Forgetting about it, the boy went on his way. But the word waited patiently. When Aunt Isabella sang opera in soprano, the word made itself small and flew into Elbert's mouth like a little gnat.


That's when the trouble began. Chives the Butler tried to balance too many trays of deviled eggs.

He...

Big tears rolled down Katy Kangaroo's brown face. Poor Katy was crying because she didn't have a pocket like other mother kangaroos. Freddy was Katy Kangaroo's little boy and he needed a pocket to ride in. All grown-up kangaroos take awfully big hops and little kangaroos, like Freddy, get left far behind unless their mothers have nice pockets to carry them in.
And poor Katy didn't have any pocket at all.


Katy Kangaroo cried just thinking about it, and Freddy cried, too.
Then, all of a sudden, Katy had a wonderful idea! It was so wonderful she jumped six feet up in the air.
The idea was this. Other...

There once was a boy who had weird parents.
No matter how many times he told them not to, the weird parents did weird things whenever they went out into the world.


In the morning the weird mother always walked the boy to his bus stop.
"Bye-bye, honeycakes!" she'd call.
Then as the bus drove away, she'd blow a huge kiss and press her hand to her heart.


At twelve o'clock when the boy opened his lunchbox, he's always have a weird surprise.


And in the afternoon the weird father always walked him home. But not before he shook hands with everyone he met.
"Pleased to meet you. How do you do? Isn't it a lovely...

Once upon time there was a little engine. Her name was CHOO CHOO. She was a beautiful little engine. All black and shiny.


CHOO CHOO had a whistle which went who WHOOOoooooo! when she came to the crossing.

CHOO CHOO had a BELL which went DING! DONG! DING! DONG! when she came to the station.


And a BRAKE which went sssssssSSSSSWISH!!! And just made an awful noise.

CHOO CHOO had an engineer. His name was JIM. Jim loved the little engine and took good care of her. He would shine and polish her till she looked like new and oil all the parts so they would run smoothly.


CHOO CHOO had a fireman. His name...

Monday was Ruby's first day in Miss Hart's class.
"Class, this is Ruby," announced Miss Hart. "Ruby, you may use the empty desk behind Angela. Angela is the girl with the pretty red bow in her hair."
Angela smiled at Ruby.
Ruby smiled at Angela's bow and tiptoed her seat.

"I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend," said Miss Hart. "Does anyone have something to share?"
"I was the flower girl at my sister's wedding," said Angela.
"That's exciting," said Miss Hart.

Ruby raised her hand halfway. "I was the flower girl at my sister's wedding, too."
"What a coincidence!" said Miss Hart.
Angela turned and smiled...

Once there was a Little Rabbit who had soft pink ears, bright red eyes, and a short, fluffy tail. He was such a cute little rabbit. But he wasn't happy. He wanted to be somebody else instead of the nice little rabbit that he was.


Whenever Mr. Bushy Tail, the gray squirrel, passed by, the Little Rabbit would say to his mommy, "Oh Mommy! I wish I had a long gray tail like Mr. Bushy Tail's."

And whenever Mr. Porcupine passed by, the Little Rabbit would say to his mommy, "Oh Mommy! I wish I had a back full of bristles like Mr. Porcupine's."


And whenever Mrs. Puddle-Duck passed by in her two red flippers,...