WORTHAM — Most of 2008 has been a nightmare for Lori Langley, her husband Brad and her mother, Laverne Lore. So, the trio decided they might as well make Christmas a nightmare, too.

Last February’s heavy rains flooded the first floor of their two-story home, where Laverne lived. The water was high — up to the electrical sockets. The roof leaked. Mold began to grow everywhere. It was awful.

“I had to tear out everything I could because Mom and Brad are both allergic to the mold,” said Lori. The carpet came up. The sheet rock came down. Everything was a mess. Laverne had to move back to her old house. They had no flood insurance, so work has been slow and they’ve tried to do it all themselves.

As Christmas approached, Lori was sure there was no way she could continue the family tradition of hosting the Christmas celebration. For the last four years, she’s come up with a theme and decorated and cooked to go along with it. There was the South of the Border Christmas, the International one, the Old English Christmas complete with a roasted pig and the Cajun Christmas. It was their gift to their family, they say, and a time when everybody could come together. Nobody expected such a gathering this year.

“When I looked around the house, I said, ‘There’s no way I can have a party. This is a nightmare,’” she said. Then, Lori Langley got an idea —  a simply spectacular Christmas idea. It came in early October. Why not make the most of the mess and have “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Her mother and husband embraced the idea and when Lori called to tell her brother in Alabama, his family cheered! Christmas would come after all.  Word spread among Laverne’s four sons, their uncles, aunts, cousins, neighbors and even people at work.

The hosts hurried to the “after Halloween sale” for decorations and developed their plan after watching again Tim Burton’s 1993 film, “Nightmare Before Christmas.” It’s the story of Jack Skellington, King of Halloween Town, who has grown bored with his job. When he discovers Christmas Town, he sets out to rule it.

The walls of Laverne’s former living room are decorated with the trees that Jack discovered led to holiday places like Christmas Town. Santa’s in a sack in the corner, all chained up. Laverne’s bedroom became Skellington’s creepy lab where caldrons bubble and spiders crawl. Her closet is covered in webs. Her bathtub has a body and there’s a rat in a nearby trap. A witch rules on the bathroom counter.  Lighted skeletons make it even spookier.

Orange and black ornaments adorn tree limbs in one corner of the house, while huge ornaments hang from another tree drawn on the wall. An old-fashioned radio plays Christmas programs from the 1930s and 40s. Dozens of stockings lead the way upstairs where guests would find buckets filled with Halloween trappings.

For three weeks, they set up their elaborate holiday decorations, putting wrapping paper on some walls and painting others black. Friday, she was still decorating sugar cookies.

Outside their house on Wortham Road, Jack Skellington — made of corrugated drain pipe and covered in red — wears a red suit and guides a sleigh.

“Our neighbors have been wondering why we still had Halloween decorations up,” said Lori.

Saturday, their “audience” of an estimated 75 folks arrived from Springfield, Ballwin, Kansas City, Chesterfield, Jefferson City, Lake of the Ozarks and beyond. The family could sit down to a meal of worms and eyeballs (spaghetti and meatballs) in Halloween Town or feast on turkey back in Christmas Town.

“Just like Jack in the movie, even though we were in a nightmare world, we wanted to celebrate the Christmas spirit,” said Laverne. “This idea just helped to turn things around.”

“I think this sorta shows the endurance of the human spirit in the fact of devastating circumstances,” said Lori.There are people worse off than we are.”

“This idea just helped to turn things around,” said Laverne.

Lori says originally, before the flood, her plan was to decorate with a Christmas fantasy theme featuring Rudolph and the Grinch. But that will have to wait until the walls are back up, the floor’s been fixed and the nightmare is over. Work on the renovations resumes after the holidays.

Donna Hickman is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact her at 431-2010, ext. 138 or at dhickman@dailyjournalonline.com.

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