It's the holidays! A family drives out for their Yuletide visit to Grandma.

The old dame's old house is off in the middle of nowhere, way up in the hills.

Which is one reason the father of the family is in a bad mood as he steers along. The other reason is that Grandma is a dreary, dull old biddy, to be honest about it. A feeling shared in fact by all of them in the family car: Dad, Mom, Sis, and Joe Jr.

So the father is not alone, letting his mind wander to more pleasant things than this tedious drive. Which is not a good idea, on a winding bumpy road through the snowy hills.

Suddenly the road just seems to disappear, as if by terrible magic.

The father frantically jams on the brakes, the rest of the family erupts in shrieks and screams, the car goes spinning around and around, out of control. And then shudders to a halt — half on, half off the edge of the road.

Teetering precariously over a hillside that drops down hundreds of feet.

"Nobody move, nobody move!" sputters the father. "Stay quiet — stop screaming!"

Everyone obeys, except Sis. Her mother shouts at her, but Sis just wails. Her mother has to slap her! "I'm sorry, hon, I love you!" Mom desperately apologizes. Sis gulps and whimpers. The hunk of Christmas pudding she'd been munching is smeared over her blouse.

"Okay, okay..." the father gasps, wide-eyed. "Just nobody move—"

Very slowly, very painstakingly, he starts to open his door. A little... a little more... the door hinge creaks. "Okay—" he whispers, and with everyone holding their breath, he reaches a foot out toward the ground.

Suddenly a pair of panicked chipmunks leap up from a snowy bush and, as if propelled by an evil force, sink their teeth into the father's leg. He screams — everyone screams. He flails his arms and topples out the door, onto the bush, which he clutches onto, chipmunks still attached.

The car tips forward and slides on over the edge, full of shrieking, and heads down the steep hillside, picking up speed. It crashes to a stop halfway down, against an icy boulder. Mom goes rocketing through the windshield like a human cannonball.

Sis is hysterical and she flops all over Joe Jr. in the back seat, then somehow forces her door open even as he yells at her not to. She thrashes halfway out and then there's a sudden scream above her, and her father comes tumbling along, still clutching the bush, chipmunks still attached to his leg — and nightmarishly crashes right onto her!

"Sis! — Dad!" shouts Joe Jr.

The terrible collision of father and daughter propels the car on its way again. The car bounces once, then flips slowly up into the air, all doors flying open, and thunders back to snowy earth at the bottom of the hill. Where it bursts into flames.

Somehow, miraculously, Joe Jr. is thrown clear. Horribly injured, he's the lone survivor of this catastrophic drive out to visit Grandma for the holidays.

Now he lies in a hospital bed, wrapped head to toe in plaster and bandages. A wrinkled old lady sits in a chair beside him, leaning on her cane. She shakes her grey sorrowful head, watching with narrow grey eyes.

"Poor dearie," she mutters in her cracked voice. "All you poor dearies..."

Joe Jr. opens a blackened eye and gazes at her groggily. "Grandma," he murmurs.

The sound of his voice makes the old lady smile in a tearful way. "Yes, your old Grandma!" she says. "Just you and me now, dearie. Afraid so!" Her old voice cracks once more.

With a wrinkled hand she readjusts around Joe Jr.'s plastered neck the weird furry homemade scarf she gave him for his Christmas present. Then she pats him goodbye for the night, promising she'll be back, he's not to worry about that — not to worry! Out the room and down the hall she shuffles, with a wave to the sadly smiling nurses. At the elevator, she peeks back, to make sure no one's looking any more. Then she grins. A grin of evil delight. She does a little jig on her ancient heels.

"Hotdog, this black magic is fun!" she cackles. "Silly ol' me, why'd I wait so long to get started? Oh, when that chipmunk-fur scarf goes into action come midnight!" And she cackles again, her old eyes glinting at the thought.