Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Midwinter’s Tale recap

The Winter Solstice is here, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina fans! And with it the holiday special you’ve been waiting for.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has given fans an extra special holiday treat today with its holiday special. It’s the best mix of spook and Christmas since Nightmare Before Christmas, and fans will love every minute of it. It’s quite the enjoyable hour and will suffice until season 2 drops next year.

The Winter Solstice has arrived, which means the shortest day and the longest night. A night during which the Yule log needs to stay lit to keep evil demons and spirits out of the house. Naturally, nothing as goes as planned for the Spellman family. But that’s what makes their story so special!

After learning her mother is in limbo, Sabrina is dead set on finding out why she is stuck there, and why her mother hasn’t moved on. She isn’t heading back into limbo anytime soon, so the next best thing is a seance. None of her mortal friends are interested in doing this with her, so she resorts to the girls from the Academy.

They manage to conjure up her mother, but simultaneously Ms. Wardwell is doing some conjuring of her own, which causes the Yule log’s fire to go out. Aunt Zelda and Hilda are frightened to see what has happened, and Zelda is furious to see that Sabrina is holding a seance.

Credit: Netflix

Her anger isn’t so much that she tried to speak to her mother, but that she didn’t ask for their help. After all, Sabrina’s questions are justified and perhaps, only a mother can truly answer them. Side note: Sabrina wants to ask her mom about how she reacted when she found out her father was a warlock and wants advice on how to handle this Harvey situation.

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In all of this, Zelda is still taking care of baby Letitia (remember Blackwood’s baby that Zelda sort of abducted?). She’s grown pretty smitten with her and doesn’t plan on letting her go anytime soon. That is until Gryla the witch shows up anyway.

During the time the fire was out, let’s just say some spirits made their way into the Spellman house. These spirits, known as Yule lads, were the children of Gryla the witch–a witch who collects children as a result of a pact gone wrong many years before. Now, her children have entered the Spellman home, and are causing quite the ruckus.

Gryla shows up at their doorstep and gets comfortable with Zelda and Hilda as they share a drink. They almost manage to get her out the door with the Yule lads, but then she hears Letitia crying, who is in the basement hiding out with Sabrina.

Credit: Netflix

Unfortunately, this brings Gryla right back in, demanding to take the baby. As the scuffle begins, Sabrina’s mother appears and suggests that they place the baby in a circle of salt. Zelda will pull one arm, while Gryla pulls the other, whoever manages to pull the baby to their side gets to take her home. Sounds a bit aggressive, yah?

Zelda finds the whole thing horrifying and gives up, which means Gryla will get to take Letitia home. But come on, you didn’t think that it would play out so easily did you? Thanks to Sabrina’s mom, she and Sabrina did a quick switcheroo of magic and made Gryla believe she left with the baby–when really she took home a teddy bear.

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Did we mention there’s a demonic Santa in the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina holiday special? Susie lands a job as the helper elf at the store, but unfortunately, her boss Santa isn’t exactly who he says he is.

Rather, he’s a demon Santa who collects children, dips them in wax, and uses them as decorative statues. Yup, this is definitely a very different kind of holiday story.

Unfortunately, Susie is abducted by him and no one notices until the next morning when she’s nowhere to be found.

Thanks to Rosalind’s visions, the group is able to figure out exactly what is going and end up enlisting Gryla to help. She may not be their biggest fan, but what she despises, even more, is someone hurting children.

Like a boss, Gryla handles the demonic Santa, and all is somewhat right just in time for the holidays. Well, not everything. It doesn’t seem like Harvey is very interested in being a part of Sabrina’s life, and most certainly not her magic. In fact, he’s not very happy that she gave his father magic eggnog, even though it got him to stop drinking.

Then there’s also the fact that Zelda has decided to send Letitia away to Desmelda’s for safekeeping. She fears that keeping her in their home will only prove more dangerous for the baby. Whose to say Gryla won’t come back again or someone starts questioning whose baby it actually is.

Side note: It’s actually wonderful to see this side of Zelda. She’s always so stern and firm with Sabrina, but to see her emotional and lovey-dovey with the baby is a pleasant change and a wonderful touch to the holiday special.

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But, whatever the case is, the Spellmans are all together for the Winter Solstice, and even better yet, Sabrina got some clarity from her mother. No matter how spooky and dangerous things get, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina always circles back to the close-knit family of witches and warlocks. Pretty sweet, isn’t it?

Happy holidays everyone! Don’t forget to share your thoughts on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Midwinter’s Tale in the comments below!

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