(FICTION) (This is Part 5. Part 1 of this story can be found here, Part 2 can be found here, Part 3 can be found here, and Part 4 can be found here.)

The sun was rising in the sky and Mrs. Smith was beginning to sweat—which couldn’t be good for a snowman—by the time the lady came back outside.  When she spoke, she addressed little Susie.

“You reminded me with your song that I haven’t called my mother lately, so I went in to do that.”

“Your mother is alive?” Susie Smith asked. Mrs. Smith also wondered, since the lady was very old.

“No,” the lady replied. “Anyway, we were chatting and Mama told me I should come out here and change you all back to my neighbors.

“Yay!” Susie said.

Mrs. Smith waited for a “but,” and she wasn’t disappointed.

“But,” said the old lady, “there are conditions. First, you must make me a promise to never come caroling here again, and if carolers come to you, tell them not to visit me.”

“We can do that,” Mrs. Smith replied.

“Mmhmm,” little Susie agreed. “What are the other conditions?”

“I will grant you each a wish, as long as it does me no harm and you don’t sing.” She gave a side eye to Mr. Smith Sr., who was still silent by necessity. He had no mouth.

“Okay!” little Susie said.

So one by one, the old witch approached each member of the Smith family of snowmen and ensured they had a mouth to make their wish with. Mr. Smith Sr. promptly wished to keep the buttons for his mouth and continued grumbling while the others spoke their wishes.

When the lady got to Mrs. Smith, she wished for a cup of coffee but then realized what she’d done and amended her wish to state that she’d wait until she was no longer a snowman.

Finally, the old lady stood before little Susie Smith.

“And what would you like, little angel,” the old lady asked.

“I’d like for you to love Christmas carols. Especially ones sung by carolers.”

“Gah!” cried the witch, and she turned them all back into the real Smiths and stomped back into the house.

And so the feud continued, for the Smiths never went caroling at the witch’s house again, and they told everyone who caroled in the neighborhood not to go to the witch’s house.

Even though she loved Christmas carols. Especially ones sung by carolers.

The End.

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!

(FICTION) (This is Part 4. Part 1 of this story can be found here, Part 2 can be found here, and Part 3 can be found here.)

The witch came out of the house carrying a legal pad and a pencil and stood in front of the family of snowmen.

“You want a story?” she asked the littlest one with the pink scarf. “I’ll give you a story.”

She glanced at the legal pad.

“There was a family of noisy neighbors who moved into a quiet neighborhood and made a lot of noise all summer. Check!” She put a checkmark on her legal pad.

“The family built a fire pit in the fall and sat around it being noisy every night in the fall. Check!” Again, she checked off the item on her pad.

“The family knocked on the door of a nice old lady one December evening with—”

“Sho it waszh premeditated,” the tallest snowman said out of the corner of his button mouth.

“Premeditated? Premeditated did you say?” asked the witch.

“Shhhh!” said the lady snowman standing closest to the small ones.

“Yesh,” said the tallest. “I shaid the drink you gave ush waszh made to turn ush into schowmen before we even knocked on the door!”

“Hmph,” said the witch and plucked out the rest of his buttons, leaving him mute but now staring wildly. She was going to leave it at that, but on second thought, she pulled out his carrot nose, took a bite out of it, and stuck it back in.

She stomped back over to the little one in the pink scarf. “How did you like that story?”

“I’d like it better if it had a happy ending,” the littlest snowman said.

“It does have a happy ending,” exclaimed the witch in triumph. She turned on her heel, pad and pencil in hand, to go back inside when the littlest snowman began to sing.

It just so happened to be a song the witch’s own mother sang to her when she was a child, and the little snowman sang it like an angel.

The witch stopped in her tracks. She turned slowly, and a single teardrop fell from her eye.

“You!” she said to the little snowman in pink. “I will set you free!”

“But, what about my family?” the little one asked. “How will I live and go to school and do all the things a girl is supposed to do without them?”

“Hmm…” the witch said. “Let me think about it.” And she went back inside.

(To be continued.)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!

(FICTION) (This is Part 3. Part 1 of this story can be found here, and Part 2 can be found here.)

“Mom?” little Susie Smith said out of the corner of her stick mouth.

“Yes, dear?”

“What’s going to happen when we melt?”

It was an excellent question, Mrs. Smith thought. But she had no idea what the answer might be. All she knew was that her bottom ball was getting tired, and she wanted to lay down and go to sleep for a while. She had a headache because she’d missed her morning coffee.

“I suppose we’ll have to wait until the lady comes out and ask her,” Mrs. Smith told her daughter. Fortunately, the didn’t have to wait long.

When they heard the lock in the front door turn, Mr. Smith Sr. said, using the middle button of his button mouth, “Let me do the talking.”

Mrs. Smith had her misgivings—her father-in-law could be abrasive when he was angry, but in the absence of any comment by her husband, she said nothing. It wasn’t until the lady of the house came out in a woolen coat, furry hat, and ankle boots that Mrs. Smith thought to wonder whether her husband had a mouth at all. She couldn’t turn around far enough to look.

“What have we here?” the lady cackled, facing them with her hands on her hips.

“What you have,” Mr. Smith Sr. said, “is a sextuplet of disgruntled snowmen. And I demand you change us back so we can go home.”

The lady dropped her hands from her hips and stepped back. Her mouth formed a perfect “o” before she exclaimed, “You can talk?”

“Yes!” Mr. Smith Sr. yelled. “And we demand—”

The lady reached out and removed the middle button from Mr. Smith Sr.’s mouth, leaving him to angrily, but now quietly, lisp something out of his right two buttons. Mrs. Smith thought she heard a swear word and hoped the children hadn’t been able to hear.

“That’s better,” the lady said with a nod of satisfaction. “Anyone else have anything to say?”

“Could you read us a story?” little Susie Smith asked.

The lady snorted and without another word, went back into the house.

(To be continued.)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!

(FICTION) (This is Part 2. Part 1 of this story can be found here.)

When the Smith family—Mr. & Mrs. Smith Sr., Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and little Bobby and Susie Smith—moved into their dream home in the prettiest part of town, they began renovations immediately. Bobby and Susie wanted a pool, so Mr. Smith Sr. splurged and paid for it. They all wanted a fire pit for the fall so they could sit around it on weekends and sing Kumbaya.

During the course of their upgrades, the Smiths met and made friends with the neighbors, all but the lady who lived alone next door. They were told to stay away from the woman because, it was rumored, she was a witch. But the Smiths, being a practical family, put it down to superstition and resolved to knock at her door at Christmas with an upbeat, friendly song.

They were quite delighted when, right in the middle of Jingle Bells, the lady opened her creaky front door and handed them all a steaming cup of hot chocolate. She bid them cheers but when they all took a sip, she shut the door, leaving them standing outside with her fine china cups.

“That was odd,” Mr. Smith commented.

“Indeed it was,” Mr. Smith Sr. replied.

“Do you think we should build her a snowman?” asked little Bobby Smith.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” exclaimed Mrs. Smith, always the enthusiastic one.

So the six assorted Smiths drank their hot chocolate, placed the cups gently on a table beside the door, and made their way to their neighbor’s side yard. And there they stayed.

(To be continued.)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!

(FICTION)

Once upon a time, in a large house in the prettiest part of town, there lived a witch. She kept mostly to herself, especially at Christmas time. For at Christmas one year, while caroling with friends, she’d slipped on a patch of ice and come crashing down, hurting her back. The experience left her rather bitter.

Suffice to say she was a grumpy witch at Christmas. The witch’s neighbours knew to leave her alone.

Then one year, in the spring, a new family moved in next door. They installed a pool and had loud parties in their back yard every weekend throughout the summer, and they built a fire pit to sit around in the fall, singing Kumbaya every night.

They drove the witch crazy. She couldn’t sleep for the noise, she couldn’t cast spells, and even her black cat threatened to leave home.

So when she heard her neighbours practicing Christmas carols in October, the witch concocted a potion, just in case they showed up at her door.

And she waited.

November passed, and the first week of December, then the second week. And on the third week, she heard a knock at her door.

And then the singing.

Jingle Bells. It couldn’t have been worse.

The witch opened the door, potion in hand, and offered a cup each to the family. They thanked her and she closed the door.

And the singing was no more.

When the witch woke up in the morning, she had a family of silently caroling snowmen on her front lawn. And all was quiet next door.

(To be continued.)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!