‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the town, the little liars were thinking of how to take Alison down…

Tonight was the Pretty Little Liars Christmas special, and normally Christmas special’s have me all merry and gleeful. However, “How the ‘A’ Stole Christmas” had me on the edge of my seat hoping the liars would make it out alive.

The episode was the aftermath of what happened in the last episode we saw. In case you missed it, we found that one liar wasn’t able to make it to Christmas this year. Mona was on the way to redemption, but it was cut short when someone with a black hoodie and blonde hair, who most of us presumed to be Alison, decided to murder her. She knew too much. While Mona lost her life, another liar was arrested.

We start off the episode with the girls strolling the streets to try and have a normal life, outside of the “A” world. That’ll never happen for a while. Spencer is out of jail on bail, so at least they’re all together right? While Hanna flashbacks to the good times with Mona, Emily still has hope that Mona’s still out there alive somewhere and Aria states again how she’s tired of Alison’s games. A man in a suit, who happens to be Mona’s lawyer, delivers a package to Hanna. That girl was always prepared. In the package was a layout of Alison’s house and a note to Hanna to stay in the game and fight. Santa interupts their moment and gives the girls a little gift from “A”. “’A’ takes a holiday, you should too.” Lies, all lies.

In a dream, Alison gets a visit from her deceased mother and explains that “she” has a lot to show her. And by “she”, she means Mona. The ghost of Christmas past, reminds Alison where it all began. In this flashback, Alison sees herself as a little girl playing the piano and finding her mom’s hiding place. Little Alison’s curiosity gets the best of her and she finds that the two gifts are the same exact dresses. Alison’s mother comes in and basically tells Alison to lie about the presents she found. This is where the lying began. I’m left with the same question Ali had: Who was that other dress for?

After doing some normal Christmas-y things, such as volunteering and dressing up as Santa’s helpers, the liars and their significant others get ready for Alison’s ball and sneaking into her house to find some incriminating evidence. As they wait for Ali, Spencer visits Santa Clause aka Lucas and he promises to make sure Ali doesn’t leave the party. Spencer tells him to be careful, which I find interesting later on in the episode.

Alison finally makes her entrance with 4 replacement girls. Hanna and Spencer use this time to head over to the DiLaurentis house, while Emily and Aria are on Alison watch. While on “A” watch, Aria runs to tell Emily that she saw Ali kissing Santa Clause (I started singing “I saw Ali kissing Santa Clause. I hope I wasn’t the only one). They all search for the mystery Santa Clause, but this mysterious guy seems to find Aria first and it happens to be Detective Hollbrook. Rosewood Officers got it bad for Alison DiLaurentis. Later on Emily, theorizes that Hollbrook helped Cece escape for Alison.

 

Emily may have lost sight of Alison at the ball, but she finds two of her new minions. We know the other two are the twins, and it honestly came as a shock to me to find Sydney and Jenna behind those masks. I’m surprised Ali even let them in her secret circle. Jenna reveals they’re doing this to survive in Alison’s world, but we all know that Alison will get rid of them once she’s finished with them. I’m on the fence on whether or not we should trust them at this time.

After Alison’s meeting with Santa Clause, she meets the Snow Queen, CeCe Drake. They share a sisterly moment and my heart kinda feels for Alison, but she’s so good at lying and faking things, it’s hard to trust her again. Cece brings up the other girls, her “ex-friends” and I’m sure Alison may find Spencer and Hanna. Honestly, this is all such a roller coaster ride and I can’t keep up with what side people are on. The teams keep changing and I’m always left confused, to be honest.

Spencer and Hanna begin their search in Alison’s home. Hanna finds a passport with a new name, Holly Varjak, an ode to Breakfast at Tiffany’s. On Spencer’s end, she finds that Ali has been contacting someone through the personal ads.

The gang sees Alison leave the winter wonderland with someone they never saw before. In a wild goose chase, it appears that Alison got her minions, the twins to dress up like her and Cece as a decoy for the girls to follow.

Back at the DiLaurentis home, I’m scared for Spencer and Hanna’s life. Spencer is downstairs, when she hears a noise and Hanna I in the attic going through Alison’s old things. Hanna is unaware that something is about to go down downstairs. Toby is in Spencer’s house as a lookout and sees that a hooded figure is in the DiLaurentis house. That person happens to have a knife in hand. “A” doesn’t see Spencer hiding and once the coast is clear, she finds that Hanna doesn’t have her phone. At this point, I’m really really nervous and I hope that Hanna makes it to Christmas Day.

Hanna, still oblivious to the fact that someone is on their way upstairs, finds a letter from Bethany. Once she hears a noise, she hopes it’s Spencer, but alas it isn’t. Spencer hears Hanna scream and finds her unconscious on the attic floor. Spencer reassures that “A” is gone, but in the shadows, the infamous creepy baby mask makes an appearance. We’ve seen many appearances of the baby mask in the past and only two reveals: Lucas and Garrett. Could it be Lucas again?

After the disastrous ball, the Pretty Little Liars celebrate Hanna’s discovery that could get Alison in some big trouble, while Alison is visited again by Mona, the ghost of Christmas future. It’s so creepy, but ghost Mona is still flawless. Mona brings Alison to the church and shows her what’s to come. It is quite devastating to see yourself in a coffin with your legs missing and the only one attending your funeral is your dead mother. I’m having some Ravenswood feels at the moment with all the supernatural stuff going on. “Wake up bitch, it’s Christmas and I promise you don’t want to miss it.” It was just a dream, my dear Alison, but it could be your future if you don’t change your ways.

Snowed in, the girls and boys celebrate Christmas day and have Christmas dinner together. It’s so sweet how all of them are together celebrating and smiling. Alison creeps up watching through the door and a part of me felt really sad because that could’ve been her family too. But their Christmas cheer is ruined, when “A” reminds them that he/she is still there. “Merry Christmas, bitches. – A”

What were your thoughts on the Christmas special? Leave a comment or Tweet me!

XOXO,
A