*Melanie "Mel" Spankenheimer, commonly referred and known as Cousin Mel, was a gold digger who attempts to get Grandma Spankenheimer to sell her store, she wears too much jewelry, and beats Grandpa at cards. Mel was the cousin of Jake and Daphne Spankenheimer, granddaughter of Grandpa and Grandma Spankenheimer, and the niece of Mr. and Mrs. Spankenheimer.

Mel wanted to sell the store to Austin Bucks, the wealthiest man in the town of Cityville, but Grandma refuses. Mel planned to add a vial to the fruit cake batter, so people will stop coming, forcing Grandma to sell, however, the scent attracted Santa's reindeer where Grandma was run over by his sleigh. After her disappearance, Mel hid a letter from Santa for about one year to keep her family and the rest of the town in the dark about it. Mel than tricked Grandpa into signing power of attorney to her. When Jake and Santa brought Grandma, Mel and her lawyer, I.M. Slime, kidnapped her thus making Santa the fall guy in a lawsuit for all his money. However, with the help of Jake, she was exposed and confessed in court during Santa's trial, arrested for obstructing justice and almost ruining Christmas.

After her lawyer got to issue parole upon her release, she became the Neo-X Hunters' first victim and Wolf Shadow Hunter's first personal victim.

Mel was a trim, beautiful, Caucasian woman with an hourglass figure and has shoulder-length red hair.

Mel wears pink lipstick and she has light blue eye shadow. She also has a small beauty mark. under her left eye.

She wears a chartreuse short sleeved top with a maroon skirt tied with a white belt, white heels, a golden necklace, golden bracelets and a white scarf tied around her neck. When she’s outside, Mel wears a long blue coat with gold buttons down the front with a white scarf and a pair of white gloves.

Mel was a very greedy, selfish, vile, conniving, mean, and uncaring woman. She's a gold digger who obviously wants nothing more than money. Mel wanted to get rich by convincing Grandma to sell her store but she refuses. Mel not only loves money, she also loves jewels, sports cars, and cruises. Mel would go to great lengths to get what she wants, ranging from sabotaging Grandma's fruitcake to making Santa the fall guy for Grandma's disappearance. Due to her greed, this even extends towards Christmas. In court, after being exposed and being coerced into revealing her true intentions, she openly admitted she hates the feelings of Christmas, such as caring and sharing, believing money is something that "enough is never enough". She was also manipulative, tricking her family and everyone else in town for a year ever since Grandma disappeared. She would appear nice and generous just to fool others, even making everyone into believing Santa is responsible for Grandma's disappearance.

Mel doesn't care about the well-being of her family. She'd showed no sympathy when the family was distraught over Grandma's disappearance, tricking Grandpa into signing power of attorney to her so she can sell the store, and kidnapping Grandma while she had amnesia. In court during Santa's trail, when she confessed to her crimes she added that she "deserves to be rich", showing that she wouldn't even share any of her money with her family.*