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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#21: That Holiday Feeling

This is the fourth holiday season that our short story contest has been around! And it's become something of a tradition for the Christmas-themed prompts to very loosely relate to a favorite holiday movie. This year, we're challenging you to either write from the perspective of a movie's secondary character, or to simply reimagine the general premise in a whole new light.

Can't get enough holiday stories? Check out some of our reading guides:

Or maybe you're still searching for the perfect gift for a book lover, and don't want to add to their "to be read" pile? We've got a list for that too 🎄

This week's prompts

You live in a neighborhood where lots of people go out of town for the holidays. But lately, this has been resulting in an increased number of break-ins.

Holiday – 23 stories

Just before Valentine's Day, a long-lost relative you've never heard of enters your life.

Valentine's Day – 53 stories

Write a short story about a work Christmas party that goes... awry.

Winter – 26 stories

Write a short story about an inn-keeper wondering whether this will be their last holiday season in business.

Holiday – 33 stories

You are a bartender working a night shift when a group of people come in on a Valentine's Day pub crawl.

Valentine's Day – 33 stories

Stories

“The Fight Before Christmas” by Gary Phillips

Submitted to Contest #21

This was not the first Christmas party Sienna attended at Frost Payments. She accepted the position as Director of the Underwriting Department four years ago and had attended every party since. It was the only time she could recall that an office party had broken down into a physical altercation. Sure there had been wars of words aplenty at other gatherings, but guests had kept enough sense to rein their darker impulses in before matters got personal. It didn’t surprise Sienna in the slightest that it was Craig and J...

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“The Gift of Giving” by Eva Gryder

Submitted to Contest #21

Mr. Robinson stared out the window of his quaint, modest inn. He looked sadly at the neon vacancy sign shining in the night. Even during the holiday season, there were no customers. He sighed to himself as he wondered how he could possibly keep his pride and joy running. “I’ve put so much into this little inn,” he said miserably to himself. He had already taken 150 dollars out-of-pocket that month just to keep the lights on and the water running at the inn, and he only had one customer during that time. As he gazed at the crumbling road...

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“White Tortoise Inn” by Shana Horn

Submitted to Contest #21

There are multiple ways to travel between the capital city of Xicusrtiw and the metropolis of Ravena. Both are port cities, so you could take the long, dangerous journey around the desert continent by ship. Then there is the highly expensive and occasionally unreliable option of magical teleportation. Lastly, there is the option of transportation across the desert between those two major cities. Desert transport was deemed safer than sea transport, due to storms, sea monsters, and other risks. Plus, there are a lot of varieties on how dese...

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“And Finally, Me” by R. K.

Submitted to Contest #21

I am a listener. I hear the world.It started with strangers who would come up to me and tell me their story and what was happening in their lives.I never gave advice, never solved their problems for them, and I never told them experiences of my own.I just listened.This is the way I am and the way I have learned to be.I opened my very own Inn. I call it the Half Point which is exactly what it is.In every person's journey, they reach their halfway point where they stop, rest, refresh and reflect.My Inn provides this service to people. I guess ...

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“A Happy 'Inn'ding” by Drew Fryer

Submitted to Contest #21

“Oh welcome, welcome!” A soft-spoken lady shouts from across the lobby “It is just freezing out there, isn’t it? My name is Charlotte, I am the owner of the inn. Is there anything I can do for you?” “Sorry to come in so late but we haven’t been able to find a room anywhere. Is there any chance that there is room available here? I guess everyone's in town for Christmas.” A young woman with her family says. “It is no problem at all, honey. That’s why I’m here. Would a double queen work? I have a few of those.” “That would be great!...

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“Detective Deplorable's Greatest Case” by Ben Elliott

Submitted to Contest #21

“Twelve thirty-two, you say?”“Roughly”“You can’t be rough about this we need specific times. Don’t tell me roughly, tell me smoothly”“I don’t think that’s a thing”“If I say it’s a thing then it’s a thing”. The detective smashed his hand down on the table and stared right into my eyes. He spent about two minutes doing it. I’m not sure if he thought we were having a staring contest or whether he’d just zoned out. I couldn’t tell.“So six of them came into your bar?”“Yes, I’ve already told you all this. I’m not sure exactly why you’re persisting...

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“The Triple Broken Nickel ” by Crystal Aylor

Submitted to Contest #21

Ugh, Savannah screams. I’m tired of this graveyard shift at Triple Broken Nickel Bar and Grill. Why me? Can’t I catch a lucky nickel and get the heck out of here. Just as Savannah slams the brown bottle down on the bar to her routine customer Harry. A bar crawl of medical and law students come in. Oh, great says Savannah. Harry loudly says to Savannah you going to have good tips tonight? Savannah giggles. As the bar crawlers are getting cozy. The atmosphere of the bar pauses as Savannah reflects on her hard semester at Harvard. She thinks to...

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“Way up High” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #21

Why is it, that sitting in our own lounges or bedrooms with the lights on in the small hours, we look across the road and tell ourselves that there is comfort in the lighted rooms of others? That our three o’clock on a winter morning electric glare signifies worry, but that the light opposite signifies hope? Does the same apply, “on steroids” (to use one of those phrases that had come into the language so quickly that the originality has been wrung out of it with remorseless rapidity) to Christmas lights?&nb...

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“The Happy Break-ins” by Joanne Phanh

Submitted to Contest #21

You live in a neighborhood where lots of people go out of town for the holidays. But lately, this has been resulting in an increased number of break-ins. The Happy Break-ins We live on Sky view lane reason it is called Sky view is because it's very high up on a mountain and we can see the view below and the sky fells touchable above. It's beautiful scenery with Majestic trees glistening in the ice and the snow with the Bells ringing below in The Valley at Christmas time. Let me fill you in on the neighbor...

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“The Monks who knew no walls,they broke-in , that's all !” by Yashwant Lokare

Submitted to Contest #21

A chill ran down his spine. He was on his feet instantly and listened. He could swear He heard footsteps. He took torch in one hand and his rifle in other. He had hardly reached the door when the footsteps suddenly stopped . He stopped too and listened. Then cautiously he tiptoed over the bedroom threshold ; looked right and as he turned to look left, he gave a start from sudden appearance of someone only few feet away who also started at his sudden appearance and nearly shrieked, “Daddy , what do you think are...

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“The Strangest Sound” by Hannah Grace

Submitted to Contest #21

I startled out of my half-asleep daze, vaguely registering the creaking noise that came from outside my room. I squinted at the too-bright computer screen in front of me, blinking as my eyes protested. The rational part of my brain told me to turn the lights on. I kept them off, staring at the computer screen and willing myself to finish the essay that was due in… I checked the time, and my eyes widened. Five hours.I covered my face with my hands, letting out a sound that was a half-groan, a half-scream, and a half really stressed sigh. I wa...

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“If you'd have stayed home this wouldn't have happened...” by Karen Iseminger

Submitted to Contest #21

It was a small town by all standards, but felt larger, I guess because it was a suburb of a fairly large metropolis. The recorded name of the town bears no significance to my story and therefore warrants no mention; more importantly, the town was known to its inhabitants simply as Transplant Village (ironically enough, the moniker had nothing to do with a resident’s liver surgery 6 years past).Transplant Village was home to the hundreds of contractors and laborers (and their respective families) who came to the area to rebuild after the...

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“House Sitting” by August Palewood

Submitted to Contest #21

December 23rdOnly for a few days he said. The small box on top was starting to shift on one side but you managed to balance it out. The grocery bags in your other hand were a hindrance on its own. Despite all that you tried to open the door. The keyhole was all scratched out but that unsteady shivering hand finally managed to unlock the damn door. You kick it closed as you enter, a punishment for its disobedience. After all it had been through, maybe it had a right to be?Only a few more moments and the eyes would’ve adjusted, but you couldn’...

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“I Don't Need a Dad” by Janie Cruz

Submitted to Contest #21

"Sweetie? Can you come down here for a minute?" "Yea Mom!" I put my notebook down and went downstairs. A dark haired, dark eyed, tan guy stood by the fireplace, on the opposite side as Mom. "Wow....You....you look just like your Mom." He breathed with a smile. I looked at Mom. "Who is this?" "Kacey...Let's sit down." They sat on the couches, but I stayed standing behind the loveseat. "I'm good." I said, eyeballing the man. She just nodded. "Okay....Kacey, when you were 7, you asked why you didn't have a dad. I told you he wasn't a good pers...

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“That Which Connects Us. ” by Sally Gallagher

Submitted to Contest #21

She heard the clanging before she saw the girl ringing the bell beside the fake black cauldron next to the donation sign. The red Santa hat on her head bounced along with her singing of jingle bells.That particular sound awakened something sad in Betsy. She always quickly walked by, never making eye contact, and never making any contributions. It was silly, but a little shiver ran down her spine this cold December day. Betsy knew this melancholy would pass, but the beginning of December always started this way for ...

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$50

Prize money

168

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 27, 2019 EST

Won by Oceania Chee 🏆

Title: This Simple Phrase

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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