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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#229: Mistletoe and Meet-Cutes

As someone who loves getting in the festive mood once winter arrives, you’ll likely find me curled up on my couch on cold December nights — with a cheesy holiday film on the go. What can I say? There’s just something about so-bad-they’re-actually-good movies that I can’t get enough of this time of the year (much to my family’s dismay).

This week, let’s pull out all the stops and write stories that play with the common tropes in popular holiday films, from secret royals and sudden cases of amnesia, to disastrous celebrations salvaged by some last-minute magic. Whether you lean in to the warm fuzzies in earnest, or subvert your trope entirely, is up to you...

This week's prompts

Write about a festive party gone wrong that’s saved by some holiday magic.

Holiday – 24 stories

Write a story in which a cynical character gets amnesia on Christmas Eve.

Christmas – 28 stories

Write about a character who visits their hometown for the holidays and reconnects with a former love interest.

Holiday – 65 stories

Start or end your story with a character finding out the love of their life is actually royalty.

Romance – 19 stories

Write a story in which a character is stuck reliving their worst Christmas ever, over and over again.

Christmas – 35 stories

Stories

“Replayed” by Lydia Seales-Fuller

Submitted to Contest #229

He realized he was packing and walking out again, he dropped to his knees crying big tears, real tears, “Oh no, no, no, not again, God please I love this woman. There is no way I would be leaving her on Christmas Eve. She made me the happiest man by announcing her pregnancy. Why would I leave her? Please, please, please, I beg you to stop this. I would do anything to make this stop.” God had nothing to do with this situation Delon found himself in. Four years ago, he walked out on his pregnant wife on Christmas Eve. He was curs...

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“Christmas Past” by Thor Pihl

Submitted to Contest #229

tw: Toxic BehaviorDecember 24th, 2012So that was a disaster. Christmas has always been a test for my family, but this year it really went to shit. I was supposed to stay the night at my parents place, but I ended up leaving early. I just couldn’t bear the bickering and hypocrisy. Let me try to gather my thoughts.It started before I even arrived. My train was delayed and my parents were too busy to pick me up, so they had sent my sister on foot to help with my bags. I could practically hear their voices echoing through the town. ‘Shouldn’t ha...

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“A Loomy Christmas ” by Kerri Harris

Submitted to Contest #229

I decided to go homemade for Christmas gifts this year and accepted too late that that is a terrible idea, because never in my life have I completed a craft successfully. I tried knitting and that was a nightmare so I tried crocheting and ended up somehow being even worse at that. I heard that loom knitting was easier than regular knitting or crocheting so I got myself a kit and made some hats. They were functional hats, but they were ridden with holes. And I didn't even know what I did wrong. Stitched too loosely? "I don't know why I even...

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“THE RIGHT PATH” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #229

The music was suddenly surrounding me as I walked the store aisles. Then I stopped dead in my tracks. The wrong Bing Crosby song came on. "It's the most wonderful time of the year." HELL NO! This has to go away and never come back. How can I keep the midnight mangle out of my life. I hear him now screeching and swearing in my head, all around me as I attempt to get out of the store. Get me out of here! I slammed into a shopping cart by accident and the old woman steering it brought back a seething memory. As I rushed down the aisle, she told...

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“Glowing Balloons” by Jelly Fish

Submitted to Contest #229

A man stirs in his sleep, covered in layers of faded, plaid blankets to shield him from the cold air. Slowly, he opens his eyes, feeling the fatigue of oversleeping creeping up onto his back. He rolls to his side in his blankets, and using his arm, lifts his heavy body from the bed. He looks around. His room is just enough to squeeze in a full-sized bed and a dresser. The walls are painted white besides the single brick wall behind the bed – and the slight chip near the two-paneled door across the bed. He knows it’s always been there. This...

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“Bevin Abernathy” by Marilyn McCottrell

Submitted to Contest #229

Sometime during the summer of 1998, Bevin Abernathy got a lip ring. On the first day of senior year, she sat down across from me in Mr. Scanlon’s AP Environmental Science class and whispered, “Kissing is a little weird at first, but then you get used to it.” I stared at her mouth, waiting for the next juicy tidbit to slip past that ring, but it didn’t come. She just smiled flirtatiously, bit down softly on the opposite side of that ring, and ignored me for the rest of the year. Lisa Miller, the quintessential girl next door and my only frien...

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$250

Prize money

171

Contest entries

64

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 22, 2023 EST

Won by Aaron Chin 🏆

Title: The Gingerbread Cookies

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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