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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#17: All the Fixin's

Next weekend is Thanksgiving in the United States! And while people have their own various traditions when it comes to marking the holiday, one thing remains fairly consistent: you get together with loved ones and you eat.

And in between mouthfuls, you talk! In fact, dinner conversation can be an excellent and overflowing source of writing inspiration — from family dynamics and long-observed dinner-time rituals, to new-comer partners meeting the family for the first time. A family dinner can truly be mapped out using a story structure: with a beginning, followed by rising action, peaking with a climax, and then wrapping up with a denouement.

This week, each of our prompts challenges you to write a short story involving a family dinner.

P.S – Know some kiddos who will be excited to do some reading over the holidays? Check out this list of the 35 best Thanksgiving books to read with kids.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a family dinner from the perspective of an in-law who's married into the family.

Thanksgiving – 33 stories

Write a story about a family dinner that includes someone unexpected showing up.

Thanksgiving – 80 stories

Write a story about a "chosen family" dinner, where no one is related by blood, but they still feel like family.

Holiday – 40 stories

Write a story about a family dinner that takes place in any time period other than the present.

Historical Fiction – 30 stories

Write a story about a family dinner that involves some kind of reconciliation.

Nonfiction – 30 stories

Stories

“Clementine Thanksgiving” by Karen Waugh

Submitted to Contest #17

Hindsight 20/20, there's no one to point a finger at or blame anymore and the entire incident was childish. Truth is though, there were many immature scenarios that that happened over the years and I can't count them all. Sometimes life throws a bunch of lemons around and no one can do a juggling act.If anything, the lemons are in bad taste when there are allergies involved and, let's face it, not everyone in this world likes lemon aid. I can't name a single person in my family that will drink the stuff. I, for one, don't even like lemon pie...

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“Homecoming ” by Lindsay H

Submitted to Contest #17

The last time Gabriel Santos was outside his childhood home, he was walking away in disbelief; his father’s angry and hurtful words following him. His mother had been dead for three days. Three whole days, and Gabriel had been overwhelmed with grief and hurting badly. His friend Percy had come over to see how he was doing. Percy who was the closest friend to Gabriel had been worried, knowing how connected Gabriel and his mom were. They had sat huddled together on Gabriel’s bed. Percy holding Gabriel close, and Gabriel sobbing into Percy...

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“Healing” by Lisa Massimilla

Submitted to Contest #17

Two days passed and neither my friends or Peter reached out to me. That's when I decided to do something to fix my life instead of waiting for someone else to do it for me. Only I could sort myself out. Waiting for Rick and Skyler's signal had just been an excuse for me not to tackle the true issue. So, I called my mom and asked if I could come over. She agreed and told me to bring Peter also since she hadn't been able to reach him since they last talked. I didn't want to tell her what happened over the phone so I agreed and focused on not t...

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“Merriment and Meagre” by Carol Coupland

Submitted to Contest #17

‘Tell me Dad, what was it like?’Rob was in his forties, still trim with a youthful look, but wishing he was somewhere else, anywhere than where he was. How did you tell a ten-year old he and Mom were no longer friends?‘Life was different when I was your age,’ he smiled tenderly at him and wondered how he had been so lucky to have such a great kid to share fun times with. Those times were all too scarce, but he always loved to share the time that he had with Mark.‘Like how?’ Mark propped up in bed with expectation of an answer. It was well pa...

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“Write a story about a family dinner that involves some kind of reconciliation.” by Joanne Phanh

Submitted to Contest #17

Write a story about a family dinner that involves some kind of reconciliation. By Josey P I can't tell you how many years have passed since all four of them were in the same room. Growing up They never did get along. There was only one, I'll call her Mary She tolerated and spoke to all of them up until 17 years ago. Keep in mind now that they all live in the same state. Three in the same town that they grew up in. The year was 1968. With the parents deceased along ...

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“Stirring the Pot” by Olivia Gilbert

Submitted to Contest #17

As the pot of water on the stove was boiling, so too were the feelings of disdain between two sisters, who stood at opposite ends of a kitchen counter. As they chopped vegetables for thanksgiving dinner, the sound of their knives coming down heavy on their cutting boards echoed throughout the house. How easily one could have lost a finger to their rage-filled chopping if both were not so well versed in that art. Victoria carelessly dropped beats into the bubbling water, resulting in a big splash that sent water spilling across the stov...

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“The broken dinner” by Thomas Andrew Pescador

Submitted to Contest #17

Tina walks in on her family, already eating dinner. “Tina, put down your bag and get here!” shouted by her mom, her mouth half-full with rice. A short, thin woman with a slightly big belly. She is scarfing down the cold rice and Sinigang because it was prepared earlier that day.Tina slowly inches toward the dimly lit work desk that was repurposed to be a dining table. “Why did you arrive only now?” asked Tina’s mom. Scared, Tina replied, “I was swamped with schoolwork but somehow I am slowly the piles of textbooks to do." "Tina, that's the r...

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“Live Your Best Life” by Renee Ferrell

Submitted to Contest #17

Vivian glanced out of the dining room window, pausing in her task of placing forks on the table. It was strange to look out of the window and see a street only a few yards away. Vivian missed the slightly undulating ranch land that she had grown up on. She glanced over at her father reclining in a chair, white hair reflecting the light as his head nodded in answer to whatever Julian was saying to him. Selling the ranch had been a wonderful choice for her parents with their advancing years. The tasks had always been hard, waking up in the mid...

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“A Family Dinner to Remember” by Nefertari Lankford

Submitted to Contest #17

Growing up in a big family was something very normal for me in turns of having family dinner. Family dinner was usually held on Sundays. I'm talking relatives from all over. As I grew older and made a family of my own family dinner had become somewhat of a tradition in the Carson household. Until one day my husband suggest that we switch it up one year and have Thanksgiving at his parents house.Thanksgiving dinner at the in-laws I thought to myself, boy was I scared. Change was just something I wasn't very use to.As the Thanksgiving day arri...

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“Pumpkin Pie” by Catherine Kennedy

Submitted to Contest #17

From the first time I met John’s family, they welcomed me because I was someone that John cared about. But it was also clear, especially when we women were all together, that I was “different”. I was both a city girl and a college girl and they were not sure about me. We had some common interests, gardening, sewing, and so forth…. but I was still “different”. I took some home-made cinnamon rolls to a family gathering and they were a big hit… but there was still this “feeling”…… The women still seemed a bit “leery” of me, and I...

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“Arnold Levin Considers Shooting His In-Laws” by Wayne Scheer

Submitted to Contest #17

Arnold Levin Considers Shooting His In-LawsArnold Levin considered the punishment if he shot his in-laws. Would the shooting be considered justifiable or would he get a judge who never married and thinks all life is precious?It's not that his in-laws were terrible people; in fact, they were good, loving people. That was the problem. Too much of anything is too much, even love. Especially the kind of love that wants to embrace you and share every intimate detail of their lives with you.Arnold and Marie had made a solemn vo...

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“A Looney Thanksgiving” by Dave Maiden

Submitted to Contest #17

“Don’t worry honey, it will be fine. They’ll love you.”Famous last words from Jennifer as we walked up to her parents’ front door. It wasn’t bad enough that I’d convinced her to drop out of college to work with me on my app. I’d also convinced her to elope to Vegas just two months ago. I’d never even met these people, much less spoken to them and here I was, their little girl in hand along with a basket of apologies and a bottle of supermarket wine. The only way it could have been any worse was if she was pregnant. She was not.“Jennifer!” Th...

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“Home, Home, Home” by Hailie Durante

Submitted to Contest #17

Sam had always felt like the odd one out when he attended his wife's family dinners. Not that her family wasn't welcoming or loving towards him. no, they were the exact opposite. His mother-in-law always made sure he got seconds, maybe even thirds on all of his favorite dishes. His-father-in-law always made sure to ask him about last night's game before he asked his own sons about it. His wife's brothers and sister treated him like one of their own, a firm member of the Vaugn family. No, he felt left out because he was never going to be t...

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“Crazy In-Law” by Candice Metcalf

Submitted to Contest #17

"Come on, we're gonna be late!" Adam shouted to me at three in the morning as I had just gotten out of bed. As far as I have known him, he and his family have been super into Thanksgiving. "Babe, I just woke up, why do we have to be there by four anyway? Ain't Thanksgiving normally celebrated around lunchtime? Plus you aren't cooking." I stood up after stretching a bit. I yawned. "I know that I'm not helping cook. And I usually would, but our family tradition for newlyweds is that we don't have to help with anything this year. We have to be...

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“MAKOTI” by Mercy Duke

Submitted to Contest #17

It was Christmas Eve of 1985 and an important day of my life, the day I was to prove to my in-laws that I was indeed the right daughter-in –law to join the family. Having arrived at the Mayo family a few days earlier I was still learning the customs of the family. My aunt had warned me to brace myself and prepare a dinner that was to steal the hearts of my in-laws to get their favor.I have been at the homestead four days now and everyday new family members were coming, they were almost fifty people on that day and some of them I had al...

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$50

Prize money

213

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 29, 2019 EST

Won by Ian Gonzales 🏆

Title: No Place Special

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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