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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#173: Giving, Receiving, and Return Receipts

Yikes! The holidays are just around the corner, which means it’s almost time for me to panic-shop for gifts. Even if you aren’t a big fan of Black Friday (when mega discounts and hard-won bargains are up for grabs) you might still be thinking about what to give to your loved ones, or what you might ask for yourself.

This week’s prompts are in the spirit of gift-giving. Whether your characters know just what to get, are scrambling for ideas at the last minute, or are the lucky (or perhaps unlucky) recipient of their own gift, it’s time to gather those wishlists and prepare for the upcoming festive season.

This week's prompts

Coming up with a gift idea was the easy part — getting your hands on it is another thing entirely.

Adventure – 22 stories

End your story with a character receiving a deeply meaningful gift they weren’t expecting.

Adults – 66 stories

Write about a character going to great lengths to return an unwanted gift.

Funny – 22 stories

Write a story starring a store cashier, during the busy pre-holiday season.

Holiday – 27 stories

Write a story that includes the phrase “Thank you! It’s just what I wanted.”

Holiday – 31 stories

Stories

“THE DELIVERY” by Susan Catucci

Submitted to Contest #173

WARNING: Story contains detailed description of a birth.* * *Samuel Camden glared at the telephone. I don’t want you ringin’ no more ‘less you got somethin’ good to tell me, he thought. He then began exploring the few remaining options he had available. The forecast that predicted blizzard conditions and sub-zero temperatures had proven accurate. Where the meteorologists had gotten it wrong, unfortunately, was the duration of the storm. Nature, once again, had shown just how unreliable it can be. The cold front was slow-m...

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“Black coffee” by Jennifer Cameron

Submitted to Contest #173

I always thought it meant more to write about pain, heartbreak, death… because who hasn’t felt the knots in their gut when something twists inside them and felt the fraying ropes pull apart. It resonates more because we’ve all felt it. We haven’t all felt the pure unfiltered love story that I’m about to tell you, the sort of imperfect love where you’re in your early 20s trying to navigate through a labyrinth of love and life that feels familiar and yet is still so new to you. It is so like the movies in that all that matters is me and you, ...

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“A True Gift” by Cengiz Kıbrıslı

Submitted to Contest #173

I still remember the day we decorated the house. I was ten and it was two weeks before Christmas. I remember that I felt like a long journey of waiting and despair will finally come to an end. A new year was about to begin, and all of the bad memories will become the past as they never happened. I was looking forward to my presents. I was about to receive not only the gifts but also the strong feeling of being loved and cared for. Since I'm the youngest in the family, all of the family members would give me a gift one way or another. Sometim...

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“Why I hate DeJa vus” by Arvin Tavakkoli

Submitted to Contest #173

It’s early Sunday morning and I can see the twilight from the small window of my room. The sky is yellow with red and orange colours at the edge of purple clouds, bleeding. It’s dark, still. I couldn’t sleep last night. I lit a candle, I don’t remember why. Maybe out of boredom or maybe I felt I needed the light. Or, maybe because I was mourning. It burns, slowly, luringly, shadows move against the white wall. The part of the wall where the paint is peeling, the moving shadows get bigger and then fade. It h...

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“Eternal Gift” by Joduyt .

Submitted to Contest #173

It isn't often the stars shine so bright. Through human development, we've moved from open and wanton expressions to building high colorless walls. The excitement and mystery of the universe gets harder to see as our own dull buzzing lights pollute the night sky, so we've stopped searching, no longer connecting with the old and natural. Atiya stood, her curly blue hair tumbled about her shoulders packing her supplies as she moved around her room. Sometimes she would take long walks away from all the noise and all the amplified sounds to b...

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“Christmas in Hospice” by Kaya Morgan

Submitted to Contest #173

Being a nurse has its duties that are always unwelcome into my mind and wishes, schedules that are out of my control, and losing patients I'd try so hard to spare from their end. Christmas wasn't always busy, unlike other holidays like Halloween or New Year where people party and drink - opening risks galore, Christmas was a time for people to bond and settle in. Friends and family all over the world sat cozy by fires, roasting marshmallows and sipping on cocoa while I worked my feet scaling the halls of the hospital. It isn't that I minded,...

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“Uncle Roy and the Box of Chocolates” by Michael Gygi

Submitted to Contest #173

Uncle Roy and the Box of Chocolates I love Christmas in San Francisco. As much as I loved the Christmas season and going to the city, there was one annual event that I looked forward to with greater anticipation than any other: Christmas at my grandparents’ house. Every Christmas Eve, dad and I would pack up the car with presents and overnight bags and drive out to Grandpa John’s. We would have a scrumptious turkey dinner, mingle with the other guests and relatives, attend midnight mass and stay through Christmas morning. The hour and a h...

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“The Christmas Gift” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #173

Charlie is a simple man. He never really had what you might call wants. He is most contented living a quiet life. Charle never sought out a wife, though he did date in his younger days. It’s just that when he thought of their happiness and compared it to his lifestyle well, he didn’t feel he should hold them back. It seemed that everything was going fine until this Christmas. For some reason, Charlie regretted not having children of his own. Of not having ever seen the smile on a young child’s face as they open ...

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“Joseph's Gift” by James Kelly

Submitted to Contest #173

Joseph’s Giftby James Ross Kellyabout 1,030 wordsI DON’T KNOW,” my father said from behind his newspaper. Then rustling the collage of columns of print down to his lap, he looked at me standing in the room. I was shocked. A wide-eyed, speechless child on Christmas morning in front of a decked-out conifer tree with no presents underneath. Even after over sixty years I remember how I had not said a thing. I stood there looking at the blinking lights on the tree, with tinsel and little peppermint candy canes--but without even one present under ...

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“Hitori's Gift” by Penny Pepper

Submitted to Contest #173

Hitori’s birthday is next week, and she hasn’t told anyone about it or gotten all excited either. And I know why. I’m her best friend after all! I’m James. James Tang. Most people call me, Mustang. Get it. Mus-Tang, my last name. It’s kinda stupid, but funny. Anyway, I know why she’s upset. Last year, she got a very special birthday present. It was a necklace that her family had given her, and one day as they were walking in the pouring rain, the necklace got loose and fell. She didn’t notice until she got home though, but by then it was too...

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“Delivering Smiles ” by Vishal KM

Submitted to Contest #173

Every day, I meet hundreds of people of different races and colours. To me, they strike as hungry people. While some hail abuses, some tend to recognise my hard work and some reward my services. However, today, something I never expected happened.Like any normal day, I received an order from a customer. It was a sunny morning. Bangalore is seldom humid. Otherwise, it’s a mix of all seasons, a bit higher on the colder side.I accepted the order and rode to the location, it just took me 10 minutes to reach. It was a house nestled amidst a ...

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“Treasure Hunt” by Emily Nghiem

Submitted to Contest #173

"Carla!" Clay burst into my room, and jumped up and down my bed, until I finally woke up. He dangled a blindfold over my face, insisting that I put it on. I hadn't changed my clothes since I fell asleep in them, after working late the night before.My little brother grabbed my hand and pulled me out of bed. I stumbled down the hall, still half asleep.“What in the world?” I thought. A chorus of familiar voices sang out."Surprise!”Clay removed the blindfold. I opened my eyes, as my family sang "Happy Birthday." I should have known they would pu...

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“The Gift of Time” by KarLynn Erickson

Submitted to Contest #173

Olivia’s day was filled with calls, emails, and meetings. Her lunch was a granola bar pulled from her gym bag. A gym bag that hung on a hook behind her desk untouched all week. Her hand found her head and she rested her mind for the first time all day. The decision to stop at her favorite take out place on the way home was a no brainer. The Golden Wok became her go to her first week in town. They had amazing food and delivered which on a sleepy, snowy, Sunday was the best gift ever. Her dad l...

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“The Misadventures of Camilla Cuthbert” by Emily Olive Petit

Submitted to Contest #173

Silas Peppernut had chosen the wrong job, but there was no way for a witch to pay rent in New York City, no matter how many spells she cast on the dilapidated bureau that served as an altar, without getting a day job. Silas, who had arranged her smile as carefully as she’d arranged her mascara (hoping that a pretty pair of eyes would steal attention from her acne, and cursing the paucity of African shades in the cosmetics section of Duane Reade) and could feel her enamel wear away as one customer after another bolted to the service desk wit...

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“The Customer is Always” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #173

Just so you know, I hate this time of year. Oh, I’ve heard some half-wits crow on about what a wonderful time of year it is as Christmas rears its consumerist head and people spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need ,so that after the Winter Festival, they are deep in debt and even deeper into a depression the Winter Festival was supposed to lighten. Whatever they are referring to when they say wonderful, gods know what exactly they are focused on, it’s certainly not the miserable, damp mornings and the dank and depressing aft...

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$250

Prize money

168

Contest entries

79

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 25, 2022 EST

Won by Jacob Brown 🏆

Title: How to Return a Book Titled "How to Improve Your Writing in Five Easy Steps" in Five Easy Steps

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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