Happy 13th Day of Creepmas - Spooky Link Share

Happy Friday the 13th AND the 13th day of Creepmas! I've had such a blast these last 13 days infusing some spooky spirit into the holidays by sharing fearsome and festive posts with you! For the last day of Creepmas, I wanted to share some of my favorite posts from other bloggers that participated in the 13 Days of Creepmas:

13 Days of Lesser-Known Holiday Horror Movies

Looking for some holiday horror films to count down the remaining 13 days until Christmas but don't feel like watching the same old stuff? I wanted to share 13 lesser-known holiday horror films, including some new releases as well as some you may have missed or forgotten about. Watch one a day as a countdown to Christmas, or feel free to binge-watch or pick and choose as you please!

Below I've noted if the movies are available to stream as well as including links to the respective films' DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon as well.

Last-Minute Goth Gifts For Darklings

Ahhhhh I can't believe Christmas is barely two weeks away! This month has gone by so very fast, and I know I can't be the only one scrambling to find gifts for friends and family last-minute. In my search, I came across so many fantastic gifts on Amazon Prime for goths and the darkly-inclined and I thought it may be helpful to share those here, in case you need some help finding a gift you can get in time for Creepmas.

Looking for the perfect gift for your favorite goth but short on time? I recommend these last-minute goth gifts for darklings:

The Trick or Treating Zombie Horse of Christmas, Mari Lwyd

One Christmas tradition that has always intrigued me is the Welsh wassailing folk custom centered around Mari Lwyd. This Welsh tradition is reportedly over 3,000 years old and is focused on Mari Lwyd ("gray mare" or "Blessed Mary" in other translations), a macabre figure of a skeletal horse head mounted on a stick, decorated with ribbons and jingling bells, and draped in a flowing white sheet (to hide the handler/puppeteer of Mari Lwyd). The eerie equine represents Death, and the only way to defeat the specter is to beat it in a battle of rhymes.

Bewitching Gifts For Your Favorite Witch

The word "witch" means different things to different people, but to me it simply means someone who is fiercely independent, empowered, creates their own magic, and has a fierce respect for nature and the elements. Of course, I also must acknowledge that witchcraft is rooting in history and different cultures, with each culture having different variations of what "witch" means to them.

With that being said, I've rounded up a list of creators whose wares will wow anyone who is witchy AF, from those deeply rooted in the spiritual side to others who just like to dip their toes in the magical pool. Wherever they land, below you will find gifts that will help bring out the magic in anyone!

Art Inspired By La Befana, The Italian Christmas Witch

To me, La Befana is an underappreciated Christmas figure that should be just as popular as Krampus! Originating in Italy, La Befana, aka the Christmas Witch, is a legend thousands of years old. As the story goes, an older woman lived in a village that the Magi passed through on their journey to deliver gifts to the newborn Jesus Christ. Many people followed the Magi with their own gifts to deliver to the newborn messiah, but this woman did not join them as she was too busy with her housework. Once she realized her mistake, she ran out of her house with her broom and presents to try to catch up to the Magi, but it was too late. Ever since then on the eve of January 6th, the Epiphany, the woman who would become La Befana flies from house to house on her broomstick, delivering all the gifts she wasn't able to give to the newborn Jesus to good children.

Living in an Italian household, I grew up with this story and looked forward to La Befana's visits every year (as long as I had been good!). I love everything La Befana still, and hers is one of my favorite Christmas legends. In honor of La Befana, I've rounded up some artwork inspired by her from a variety of artists. I am so glad her name is becoming more and more recognized and love sharing her story!

Check out art inspired by La Befana below:

The Legend of the Christmas Spider

You may have seen spider ornaments on Christmas trees before, and may have just assumed they were a goth ornament or leftovers from Halloween, but did you know that spiders actually have a long history of being placed on Christmas trees due to Eastern European folk tales? The legend of the Christmas spider dates back to the late 1800s or early 1900s and is believed to be of Ukranian origin, though the story can also be found in parts of Germany, Poland, and Russia. It is also credited as being the origin of hanging tinsel on Christmas trees.

I love the story of the Christmas Spider and its message of charity and goodwill. The Christmas Spider celebrates kindness to all living things, the magic of giving, and those that work quietly in the background to bring joy to others. The legend of the Christmas Spider is as follows:

13 Christmas Episodes from Horror TV Shows

During the horrordays, many people focus on watching Christmas-themed horror movies but tend to forget how many Christmas-themed horror television episodes there are. I love holiday horror TV episodes since they are bite-sized pieces of holiday fear and I can fit in watching them pretty much anytime! If you think about it, this is perfect since we are all so busy this time of year and sometimes don't have the time to watch a whole film.

If you're looking for dark Christmas stories, I have 13 memorable Christmas episodes from horror television series to recommend to you this Creepmas below:

Eerie Ornaments for Creepmas Trees

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is putting up and decorating my Creepmas tree! My Christmas tree is black, and I decorate it in Halloween colors and spooky ornaments. I'm always on the look out for new unique, gothic ornaments I can add to my tree, and I love sharing my finds with you, my fellow darklings! 

Take a peek at these eerie ornaments for your Creepmas tree below:

20 Creepy Calendars for 2020

I am one of those people that adores wall calendars - I even have multiple calendars in different rooms of my house! I am a very visual person, and wall calendars work so much better for me instead of using my phone calendar or even a planner. I love the physicality of wall calendars and how I can see right in front of my face if I have an event or appointment scheduled. I grew up organizing my life on calendars, so from the time I was pretty young I would gleefully look forward to receiving a calendar for Christmas.

I love continuing this tradition and gifting myself a brand new calendar around the holidays. I always take great pleasure in picking out the next year's calendar for myself, which is why I love sharing creepy calendars with you every year! In a way, it is kinda like we are shopping together for calendars, and how fun is that?!

So anyways, if you are old-skool nerdy like me, take a look at 20 creepy-cute calendars I've had my eye on and let me know which one is your favorite!

Christmas Horror Movies to Stream Now

'Tis the season for some killer holiday horror movies! I love browsing streaming services this time of year for seasonal horror flicks, and this year we have quite a few to choose from on Hulu, Shudder, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. Below I've rounded up some that are available on these streaming platforms now or are coming soon to stream. Don't have these streaming services or prefer physical media? No problem, as I've included links to each film's Amazon when possible.

Check out the Christmas Horror Movies to Stream Now:

Haunting Holiday Books to Read for Christmas

The longer days and cold nights are perfectly suited for reading spooky stories. It recalls past traditions from Victorian and Edwardian times when friends and family would gather on Christmas Eve and spend the night by the crackling fire telling each other spooky stories. Let's keep this wonderful tradition alive this holiday season with the following collections of holiday-themed horrors that you can read this Creepmas!

These books of short Christmas ghost stories would make a perfect gift, either to yourself or your favorite horror reader. It would also be fun to take these home for the holidays to read them to your friends and family as you spend time together - which will infuse your gatherings with some must-needed spookiness this time of year!

Check out these Haunting Holiday Books to Read for Christmas:

Welcome To The 13 Days of Creepmas

Happy first day of Creepmas, an annual tradition that runs from December 1st to December 13th. During these 13 days, a group of like-minded bloggers infuse some much needed spooky spirit into the holiday season by putting a spooky spin on the horror-days.

Since I missed this year's 31 days of Halloween, I plan on throwing myself whole-heartedly into the 13 days of Creepmas. I'm gonna be sharing some killer ghoulish gift guides, Christmas ghost stories, dark holiday decor, and much more.

Every year I like to kick off Creepmas by sharing some of my favorite posts from past years. I've been participating since 2011, so I have plenty of ghoulish goodies for you to check out, with more on the way. Make sure to check back every day for a new post so you can put the holiday spirits back into the holiday!

10 Things I'm Loving This December

Despite how fast Christmas is bearing down on us, I have to say I am really enjoying this month. I am staying put over the holidays, so it hasn't been as crazy as it usually would be and I'm so happy I don't have to travel. It means I get to do one of my favorite things - hole up at home! I've been hunkering down, writing, watching tons of movies and TV, reading, and just enjoying the spirit of the holidays. This month, I've also seen some recent projects come to fruition, which I'm pretty proud of.

I'm so glad I've been able to finish the year out on a high note. And as I do every month on these "ten things" posts, I'll be sharing some of my favorite things I experienced this December. This month, this includes the 13 days of Creepmas, a festive new perfume, oodles of holiday movies, some dark folklore, vegan sugar cookies, and more!

See my 10 Things I'm Loving This December below:

13 Days of Holiday Horror Movies

Can you believe Christmas is just 13 days away?! Eeeeek! I can't believe it is nearly here, and I can't wait to spend the holiday relaxing and enjoying some time off. During October, I sometimes do a countdown called 31 Days of Halloween Movies (check it out HERE), where I watch a Halloween-themed movie every day of October, so I thought it would be fun to do the same kind of countdown for December and invite you to play along as well!

Of course, instead of Halloween movies we will be watching Christmas horror movies! There are a lot to choose from, so I picked some old and new favorites to get us into the holly jolly horrordays spirit! Links go to Amazon to purchase the films and I've also noted if and where they are available to stream.

Creepy Calendars for 2019

I am one of those people that MUST have a physical wall calendar - I love writing out plans and seeing what is coming up without having to look at my phone. I guess this is probably old-school at this point, but I just love physical calendars! I never got into planners, but with calendars I am obsessed! I love picking out new ones every year, and of course I love the ones with a darker aesthetic or ones that align more with my tastes. This year, I've picked out calendars that vary from bats and cats to sacred sites to haunted places to cult films to moon magic to true crime to classic monsters to Gorey art and beyond - pretty much everything that could tickle fellow darklings' hearts!

Below you'll find 13 calendars I've chosen for 2019 - now I just need to narrow it down so I can pick a few for my own office walls! Let me know which ones are your favorites...

20 Spooky Stocking Stuffers Under $20

I don't know about you, but sometimes stocking stuffers are the hardest thing to shop for! I mean, it's hard to find smaller gifts that aren't just candy or snacks for your loved ones. Plus, stocking stuffers kinda get pushed off to the last minute and treated as an afterthought, with not much thought put into them.

This year, why not wow your favorite boils and ghouls with some creeptastic stocking stuffers?! I've found a bunch of small gifts that would be perfect and as an added bonus they are all under $20 so they don't break the bank! Plus, the ones I've selected below are all available on Amazon, ensuring they arrive before the holiday.

Below, shop for 20 Spooky Stocking Stuffers Under $20:

Dark Christmas Music for Creepmas

I don't usually like Christmas music, or at least not the awful stuff they pump into stores, but sometimes I get the urge for a little Christmas cheer, and when that happens I turn to my Christmas music list that is filled with goth, alternative, instrumental, and atmospheric songs that remind me of Christmas and the winter season.

I've been updating this goth Christmas playlist the past few years, and wanted to share this updated Spotify playlist with you all so you can have some creepy Christmas fear, too! You can access the playlist below:

Christmas Horror Movies to Stream Right Now

If you are like me, you are looking for some ho-ho-horror films to get you through the saccharine muck that is clogging up all the streaming platforms right now. I like to have something festive on in the background to decorate, wrap presents, bake, or just enjoy a chilly night wrapped up in blankets on the couch, and it is so much easier to choose something on Shudder, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc. rather than going through my Blu-rays or DVDs (yes, I am really that lazy!).

With that in mind, I've been keeping an eye on all the Christmas-themed horror films on or coming to streaming platforms and I wanted to share the best of what is available. I've rounded up some of the best (errrrr, or at least somewhat entertaining) holiday horror films that are available to stream, organized by platform.

Victorian Ghost Stories for Christmas

I simply love the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories around Christmas. There is something so wonderfully cozy about gathering with friends and family around a crackling fire on a dark winter night and telling terrifying tales to one another. In recent years there has even been a resurgence of this tradition, with people bringing back the chilling custom of sharing ghost stories around Christmastime.

Of course, I am all for this - the long, dark winter nights create an eerie atmosphere that is so well-suited for telling or reading ghost stories! It is definitely a tradition I want brought back, and there are lots of classic Victorian Christmas ghost stories available to resurrect this custom. There are also some newer spook stories that aren't from the Victorian era, but still honor the tradition of getting scared silly on Christmas Eve, so I've included them in my round-up below! Links will take you to each book's Amazon page, and some are available to read online now, so I've also included those links when applicable.

So find a comfy chair (preferably near a crackling fireplace), light some candles, brew yourself a hot cup of tea or coffee, make sure your doors and windows are locked tight, and settle in to welcome back the real spirits of Christmas in the book and story recommendations below: