It was on the first season of Christmas following Empath's final return from Psychelia that Narrator had gathered the Smurfs together in Tapper's Tavern for one of his Christmas stories, which all the Smurfs were eager to listen to.
"It was in a village similar to ours, with Smurfs just like us, who were all preparing for Christmas Day with decorations and gifts and food and jolly times for all the Smurfs," Narrator began. "However, there was one Smurf who refused to smurf part in all this, and that Smurf's name was Grouchy."
"Me?" Grouchy wondered. "I hate being the Smurf who's part of the story."
"Nevertheless, you were the one your fellow Smurfs were most concerned about, in this other village," Narrator said. "They saw that you had not smurfed up any decorations around your house, and when you greeted them, you didn't want to smurf any part in singing Christmas carols."
"Uh-oh! Grouchy didn't smurf up any decorations around his house?" Jokey commented.
"It's just a story, Jokey," Grouchy said.
"Anyway, Papa Smurf and the Smurfs who were with him smurfing Christmas carols wondered what is wrong with Grouchy, and why he was prepared for smurfing off to sleep instead of smurfing into the Christmas spirit, and Grouchy simply said in his usual tone, 'I HATE CHRISTMAS!' And then he smurfed the door closed and smurfed a pile of snow on his roof to fall on Brainy."
Every Smurf except for Empath laughed at that. "Figures that Brainy would get dumped on sooner or later."
"I heard that, and I'm going to tell Papa Smurf about this," Brainy said.
Papa Smurf chuckled. "Please continue with your story, Narrator."
"This is the part where you smurf in, Papa Smurf," Narrator said. "You decided that you were going to help Grouchy smurf back into the Christmas spirit, so you smurfed up this potion in your laboratory, and from the potion a blue ball of light had smurfed out of the laboratory and smurfed around the village until it smurfed to Grouchy's house. He was playing with what appeared to be a toy hang glider as he was smurfing in front of his fireplace, smurfing eggnog and trying to keep warm. As it turned out, he was all out of eggnog, so the blue ball of light had smurfed into his mug, and Grouchy drank it instead. It made Grouchy suddenly feel all sleepy until he just simply smurfed out on the floor."
"Great Smurfiny Crickets, my dear Narrator," Tapper exclaimed. "Is Grouchy all right?"
"Grouchy was fine, but when he woke up, he saw that his house was all dark, and when he smurfed up a candle, he saw that everything in his house, even himself, was different," Narrator answered. "But then he heard a noise smurfing from his chimney, and down through the chimney came who he thought was Smurfette, but it smurfed out to be one of the Three Fates, the Smurf of Christmas Past. She was there to show Grouchy what happened to him that made him smurf the way he is around Christmas."
Grouchy slipped Empath a sort of private look and smile at the mention of Smurfette.
"Smurfette took Grouchy to about five years ago when he used to be so excited about Christmas like every other Smurf, who were busy dancing and singing and smurfing snowballs at each other," Narrator continued. "However, this Christmas Grouchy was expecting something special for a gift, which was a hang glider. Jokey smurfed the picture of the hang glider and thought it looked like a paper plane. Then Papa Smurf gathered every Smurf together for their gifts, which he personally passed out to each and every Smurf. The gift was a new Smurf hat, and every Smurf was pleased to get such a gift...all except for Grouchy, who was expecting something different."
"Gosh, why would Grouchy smurf so upset over a hat?" Tailor asked. "They're so white, traditional, and very distinguished."
"Hmmm, so you would think, Tailor," Vanity snorted in disbelief.
"Smurfette showed Grouchy that he was like this for the past three years, how when he expected something different for a Christmas gift, all he ever smurfed was a hat," Narrator said. "Then came the previous Christmas, and Jokey smurfed Grouchy a present that looked like Papa Smurf finally smurfed through this time and smurfed him a hang glider. But when Grouchy opened the present, it was just another one of Jokey's surprises, and as usual his Christmas gift was a new hat. This made Grouchy so upset that he smurfed his present on the ground and shouted, 'I...HATE...HATS!'"
"Aw, gee...that was a nasty thing Jokey smurfed on Grouchy that Christmas," Sassette said.
"There, there, Sassette, it's only a story," Papa Smurf said.
"What I would like to know, Narrator, is where I smurf any part in the story," Brainy said. "After all, how can you smurf a Christmas story about the Smurfs without smurfing the most important Smurf of all...namely myself?"
"Funny you should mention that, Brainy," Narrator said. "After Smurfette took Grouchy flying over the forest where he ended up falling when she lost her smurf on him, he fell onto a snow Smurf and soon found out that it was now Christmas Eve. And standing before him was you, or rather, the Smurf of Christmas Present. Your job was to show Grouchy what effect his non-participation in Christmas would cause to his fellow Smurfs. As they were making last-minute preparations to the Christmas tree, Greedy sent Culinary to smurf the Christmas decorations, and one of them was the star, which Grouchy would smurf up on the tree every Christmas. Clumsy saw that Grouchy wasn't around to smurf the job, so he decided to smurf the star on top of the tree himself."
"Oh, boy," Clumsy said excitedly. "I never get to smurf that job around here."
"It's pretty obvious why no Smurf would ever let you smurf the star on top of the tree, Clumsy," Brainy said.
"The Smurfs in the story tried to keep Clumsy away from the tree with the star, Brainy," Narrator said. "However, he tripped on the box of ornaments, and that smurfed a chain reaction that caused all the Christmas lights to smurf out, knocking down a Christmas wreath, smurfing fire to some Christmas stockings, and knocking down the tree itself until it smurfed on fire. By the time Handy smurfed out the flames, the tree was burned to a crisp. All they could do is sadly wonder how things would be different if Grouchy was there to smurf his job."
"I don't see what's so important about smurfing a star on top of the tree, anyway," Grouchy said.
"The whole point, Grouchy, is that every action, no matter how insignificant it may seem, has a reaction, and that your character's non-participation in the events of that Christmas has caused what Narrator has told us about," Empath said.
"That's not all what Brainy wanted to show Grouchy, Empath," Narrator said. "He also showed him that Papa Smurf had personally smurfed every hat for each and every Smurf, and that he smurfed a special hat for Grouchy that he wished would smurf it a chance. All Papa Smurf could do is sigh and smurf for the best. This made Grouchy so sad that he wanted to tell Papa Smurf how sorry he was, but Brainy said that Papa Smurf couldn't hear him, and the next thing Grouchy saw was the last of the Three Fates...the Smurf of Christmas Future, who appeared in the form of Hefty."
"Now this story's really smurfing to be interesting, Narrator," Hefty said.
"Thank you, Hefty," Narrator said. "His job was to show Grouchy the future that would smurf from his decision to not participate in Christmas, and with a smurf of his finger, Grouchy saw that he was in the Smurf Village, but it was all deserted. There wasn't a single Smurf left in it. He smurfed through a window into the dining hall where they would smurf their Christmas dinner and heard voices smurfing that they would go out into the forest to smurf a new tree that would make Grouchy feel all better. This made Grouchy so worried that he smurfed out there into the cold snowy forest with Hefty smurfing along, and that's where he saw Brainy's glasses smurfed behind as well as Vanity's hat and a few others."
"Slithering salamanders, Narrator, what happened to them?" Sassette asked.
"Hefty pointed Grouchy to the one place where the Smurfs were taken...to Gargamel's castle," Narrator said. "Suddenly he himself appeared inside the evil wizard's lair and saw that all his fellow Smurfs were captured and smurfed into cages, even Papa Smurf when he went out to look for them. It was then that the Smurf of Christmas Future disappeared and Gargamel appeared with his cat Azrael, ready to capture Grouchy as well. He quickly tried to escape the wizard and his cat by smurfing on top of a bookshelf, but then the bookshelf started to collapse until Grouchy found himself smurfing into the fiery liquid of the cauldron below..."
"OH NO! NOT GROUCHY!" almost every Smurf shouted.
"I hate 'Oh no, not Grouchy!'" Grouchy said.
"And then suddenly, Grouchy appeared back inside his house, and back to his normal appearance like everything else," Narrator said. "He realized that it was still Christmas Eve, and he still had time to change things. So by Christmas morning, Papa Smurf and the other Smurfs were surprised to see Grouchy up and about smurfing up the last of the decorations for the Christmas tree and even smurfing up a fruitcake for Hefty, which every Smurf knows is his favorite food this smurf of the season. Grouchy apologized to Papa Smurf, saying that he was too busy smurfing what he wanted and not appreciating the greater gift of smurfing a family that loves him and cares for him."
"Oh, Grouchy, that's just so sweet of you...I mean, you in the story," Smurfette said.
"It was then Papa Smurf had smurfed Grouchy his Christmas present, saying that he knew it wasn't a hang glider, but he smurfed that hat just for him," Narrator said. "After Grouchy smurfed the star on the tree wearing the new hat, he decided to test out the new hat, and smurfly enough, it was a hat that was made for gliding. This made Grouchy a very happy Smurf, and his fellow Smurfs knew that he had the Christmas spirit back in him again. And that, my fellow Smurfs, is the end of my story."
"That was an interesting Christmas story you have shared with us, Narrator," Empath said. "May this one ask where this story actually comes from?"
Narrator chuckled. "It's just one of those things that I happen to smurf across in my role as the narrator of your stories, Empath. You can't expect me to smurf you everything that I personally know."
"And this smurf wouldn't try getting this information from you otherwise," Empath said. "This smurf appreciates the effort, nevertheless."
"I don't know, Empath," Grouchy said. "The whole thing just smurfs rather ridiculous. I mean, me smurfing so upset over a hat, just because I wanted a hang glider."
"We're all faced with disappointments at some point in our lives, Grouchy," Empath said. "How often this smurf wanted to be with you and all the other Smurfs around Christmas during the times when this smurf was in Psychelia. That is what this smurf would consider the greatest Christmas present of all."
"And Smurfette, now that she's here among us?" Grouchy asked.
"That would also include Smurfette, Grouchy, more than anything," Empath said.
