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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

“WHEN YOU GET TEARS INSTEAD OF THE GIFT” by Azemina Klobodanovic

Submitted to Contest #21

I was born in a poor working-class, patriarchal family, who didn't give any importance to the holidays. We did not celebrate birthdays, New Year ... only Bajram (a great Muslim holiday). For the children, a New Year always represented an important holiday to be remembered by Santa Claus. Only when I was seven years old, when I attended the first grade of elementary school, it was the first time I saw Santa Claus. I've heard of other children that he is an old man with a white beard, the red boots and a red cap on his head, dressed in a red s...

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“The Sub-Par Gift Giver” by Ellie K

Submitted to Contest #21

It started out as a simple mistake that ballooned into an unmanageable mess, one even the manager couldn't manage. Considering John worked a nine to five office job at an insurance company, the annual company Christmas party should have been nothing special. Just a white elephant gift exchange, and some really low budget, store-bought Christmas cookies. The Christmas festivities started about two weeks before Christmas. The email, sent out by the office manager, left no hint that an actual human had even written it. It was a monotonous remin...

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“A Fearful Time of the Year” by Ken Harris

Submitted to Contest #21

As a contractual security officer assigned to a public state office, I very much wanted to finish my secret assignment of stuffing confidential letters into envelopes slated for the day's outgoing mail. I was eager to join the Christmas party downstairs in the conference room. I could smell the fresh hot party pizza delivered by the courier ten minutes ago. If I somehow finished this last batch of letters, I knew I could at least help myself to a ridiculous edgy pepperoni slice no one wanted.Liz, a state caseworker, poked her head ...

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“The Seven Swans Resort” by Jayden Mendez

Submitted to Contest #21

"It's not enough. Not nearly enough to get us through the summer, let alone next Christmas." I glance over at Margaret. Her eyes shine with tears that she tries to hide behind a sad smile. "Well... I guess we'll make this Christmas the most memorable one yet. There's not much we can do. Unless some privileged billionaire donated some money to the resort, we'll be closed by the end of next Fall." Margaret's words are full of sadness and... acceptance. She knows the truth, and isn't afraid to face it. Smart girl. I'm glad I married her all tho...

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“A Holiday Well-Spent” by Faith McCune

Submitted to Contest #21

Jill was in a quandary. She loved her little bed-and-breakfast inn, but she couldn’t hang on much longer. Her husband died of cancer last year and though she still had a stream of regulars stay at her hostel, she couldn’t run it by herself and the bills were piling up. “Maybe I should just sell this place and move to a small manageable apartment where I can live like a normal person,” Jill thought. “I love this house and all of its charm. And the garden. And the view. And…oh, what’s the use. It used to be fun w...

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“A Helping Hand During the Holidays” by Aurora Lung

Submitted to Contest #21

Thomas Wynn sighed. The Wynn Inn had serious money problems, and it was like customers were purposefully steering clear of his inn.Thomas had gone out into the freezing air while it was beginning to softly snow. He'd needed some fresh air, and the Wynn Inn needed to stock up some firewood before the big snowstorm that many people suspected was coming this way.Taking his ax, Thomas took a big swing and began chopping wood as quickly as possible."Hey, Tom!" called a familiar voice.Thomas turned around with a jolly smile on his face. "Hey, Dan!...

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“The picture on my nightstand ” by Rajan D

Submitted to Contest #21

This is the picture I keep on my nightstand, on the highest floor of our Inn.It’s a selfie of us. Straight and simple. Hand-in-hand. I am not standing behind you, or sitting in front of you like I am in our other family photos; I am beside you. Next to you. I am with you.In the photo, your grin is fighting the frailty of your face that resulted from all the treatment. You don’t look like a washed-out journalist or a recovering alcoholic. You look familiar. You look like home. You look like my brother.-----------------------------------------...

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“A Christmas Miracle” by Abigail Englehart

Submitted to Contest #21

Cathy sighed as she looked at her daughter on the couch with her new grandson. She was terrified. She knew that her daughter needed help with money; the inn was the source of that money. For the past few months, Cathy had been running numbers. The likelihood of lasting until the next holiday season were slim. Her daughter was an aspiring author in a rough spot. Meredith nodded to sleep, looking comfortable on the sofa. "Mer, darling," Cathy said quietly. Meredith looked up, suddenly wide awake. Her baby began to cry. The soun...

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“The Innkeepers Hat” by Tia Tomlinson

Submitted to Contest #21

A throwback to another era, the Inn appeared in an enchanted meadow with wildflowers in every size, shape and color. Snapdragons to the west, quarreling in flurries of tiny sparkles with every uttered phrase. To the east are the Daisies, preening in the sunlight and tsking at the Snapdragons. “Uncouth,” says one Daisy to another. “Inconceivably savage,” agrees the third Daisy. Residing next to the Daisies to the north are whorls of Blue Sage, nattering on to each other about this, that and the other thing. To the south lay the Wood Anemone a...

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“The Nice Guy” by Elizabeth Donohue

Submitted to Contest #21

Bryan Adams’ Summer of ‘Sixty-Nine pulsed quietly in the background of the pub. The dance floor was empty. The bar stools, vacant. The only resident at The Lion’s Keep was Richard, the new bartender. In South Edmonton, there wasn’t much action. The elderly gentlemen and hobby farmers from the outskirts of town had long-left with much eye-rolling about the demands of their wives and promises to meet up for another pint tomorrow. Now, it was just Richard, polishing wine glasses that he suspected had not touched the lipsticked mouth of a woman ...

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“I Met God in a Bar. ” by Sarah Daniel

Submitted to Contest #21

I looked at the clock behind the counter of the smokey atmisphere of this bar. Time was going too slow today, figures. Christmas was always like that, so busy but the clock took its sweet time. I still had a few hours before I had to close up. The bar racked up the same old grunts every year, the homeless, the broken hearted and those who didnt want to get caught breaking the hearts of their spouses. They all wanted to get drunk and forget the holiday that had forgotten them. They all say that Christmas was a day of joy and love but it was n...

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“Christine and the Prettiest, Ugliest Christmas Sweater ” by Natalie Marie Stefani Rice

Submitted to Contest #21

"I guess I'm just not understanding the whole 'why'. Do you know what I mean?" Christine and Bessie sat looking bewildered in the first booth.The club was vacant except for six patrons that were left over from the early afternoon escapade that resulted in a late night bar crawl.Christine, constantly stirring the White Russian that sat in front of her now for a little more than an hour, looked serious when she asked the other woman with her head resting in her arms. "Can you think of one reason they call them pretty and ugly at the same time?...

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“The Unexpected Pub Crawl” by Anni Zimmerman

Submitted to Contest #21

I usually don't mind working behind the bar, but tonight was an exception. My eight-year-old daughter and I had a standing date on Christmas mornings at the city ice rink, and I planned on getting a good night's sleep so I'd have energy for it tomorrow. Being the owner, though, means I can decide how late to stay open. I didn't expect a big crowd tonight. I could be home and in bed by 11. My three regulars, the only customers in the place, should be gone around 10, and I'd finished the nightly cleanup already. So, after filling a bowl of pre...

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“Angus Teafeather's Toybox” by Ed Ilsen

Submitted to Contest #21

“I suppose I should be grateful I have a job at all at my age,” Gus thought spitefully as he readied the bar for opening. He had come in early to prepare for what was always the busiest night of the year. He had made sure all of the glassware was spotless, and the bar, tables and stools were thoroughly washed of any trace of stickiness that may have lingered from the year prior. Tomorrow he would wash them all down again, and treat the wood with oil, since a year’s worth of sticky drinks will be spilled on everything before th...

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“Animecringe1001” by QueenOlivia R

Submitted to Contest #21

Animecringe1001 Post 10:02 PMFuck Christmas. Fuck Santa. And Fuck Drunk people! Yesterday about half of the staff at the bar where I work decided that they weren't going to show up, leaving me to do all the work alone. I would've also bailed, but I literally have $3 in the bank and I can't risk getting on my manager's bad side. "You don't have anything else to do anyway!" is what she told me before basically forcing me to work today. I mean, it's true, I don't have anything else to do, but it is the only time that I have nothing else to...

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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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