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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

“Merry Christmas Go Round” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #229

Andy wears an expression of puzzlement, but he doesn’t know what to do with it. Shifting it seems like the best option, but it’s a stubborn stain that will take more than a light touch. Doing something tangible is the only way as far as Andy is concerned, he expresses himself with his physicality, and so he propels himself forth and walks through the open gate to the front door, knocking on it before he registers that this was what he was going to do. Using the knocker is complicated by the green border of a Christmas wreath. His han...

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“Assault on Workshop 13” by Craig Scott

Submitted to Contest #229

“Three hundred and sixty-four days worked, to one day off!”…Mergle hadn’t known he was going to speak until he already was, his voice broken and hot as he stood upon the crate. He had yet to articulate within himself the reasons that prompted him to action, yet he knew they were informed by a long dormant rage which moved internally like a geologic force. Tears welled in his eyes and slid down his green face. Yes, rage. That all-consuming fire that burnt low and idle in the soul until some catalyst set it loose in a torrent that engulfed all...

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“Fight or Flight” by John Van Winkle

Submitted to Contest #229

Fight or Flight “Ms. Hartman,” Sadie Nelson said, “I’m 48 years old… twice your age. Nobody has ever ripped me off and gotten away with it, and they won’t start now. Someone is siphoning off inventory right under our corporate noses, and I’m sick of paying big bucks to lawyers and CPAs in suits, who seem incapable of solving this problem. So, I’ve decided to bypass them and hire someone myself… someone like myself… educated in law and finance, tough, smart, fearless, and armed… but younger,” she continued, opening her left l...

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“Guest List” by Audrey Knox

Submitted to Contest #229

Hailey was determined to throw an “adult” Christmas party. A dinner party. With a menu and place settings and themed décor and everything. She and Steven had moved in together earlier that year, leaving apartments they had each shared with roommates behind.Though Hailey would never admit it to her mother—or anyone else for that matter—she had her own doubts about Steven and their future together. But she really did honestly love him and want to be with him. Even if he did always leave his shoes in the living room and never pick up after hims...

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“The Hometown Reconnection Flight” by Rachel Zabrina Zammit

Submitted to Contest #229

Angela gazed out of the window in the plane, looking through the misty clouds at the city lights that were starting to appear. Removing the neck pillow from behind her, she wryfully noted that she barely slept at all on the flight even though she was running on zero hours of sleep from the night before worrying about this very flight. It wasn’t really the flight that was causing her stomach to twist, no - it was her return to the hometown that she fled over a decade ago. Every year, when December first would come around, her father w...

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“Merry Christmas!” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #229

You have to hand it to them! Always trying. Those relatives.Here I am, waiting for whatever. Then the phone rings.“Jimmy! We have a place setting just for you. On the dining room table. Apple pie! Whaddya say?”Christmas, 2022. I was so not ready for this.“I dunno, Aunt Susan. Things are busy here lately. I don’t know if I must fill in for the boss. He said he would let me know…”Then it's yada yada. I start holding my phone away from me. Oliver is making a face. He’s writing a note. Then, he holds it up at an angle, making it hard to read.Emm...

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“8 plus 2 Red Roses” by Annapoorna Paul

Submitted to Contest #229

Two souls from a different zones and part of life decide to meet up on a blind date. As pretty as the picture with the depth of his cheek’s temples appealed and managed to ask the lady love out, which in turn, turned her world upside down as she stumbled upon this date. Broken and lost in the hopes of finding that special someone as love was not even in her books now; as hesitant was she, however gathers the courage only to see this mystery date waiting at the table for her. The first glance she seen was his yin &yang Tattoo on the...

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“Thirteenth Christmas” by Allan Bernal

Submitted to Contest #229

The day Jesse was supposed to finish his novel just happened to be the day the power went out overnight, leaving his laptop at a measly seventeen percent power. With the power still out too, Jesse cursed under his breath, whispering despite living in an empty apartment. His editor, Mr. Kaplan, told him to give him an update after New Year’s, but Jesse took it upon himself to finish by Christmas. It had to be by Christmas, Jesse thought, gripping his laptop and remembering the last good Christmas he had. When he was twelve, his parents got...

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“Beneath the Christmas Tree: A Haunting Memory” by Nava Weiser

Submitted to Contest #229

The front door groaned open, and Anna stepped into the house. She had come back from the most wonderful party. Reds and greens were still stuck in her head as she smiled. Christmas was the most wonderful holiday in her opinion, it was beautiful and jolly. The carolers carol, kids unwrap toys, and the Christmas trees are decorated with a star on top. She closed the door behind her and a curious expression appeared on her face; the lights were off. She had come home slightly more early than planned, so her father should have been awake. “...

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“Christmas Spirit” by Domika Stewart

Submitted to Contest #229

The night before Christmas it's always suppose to be the coziest. The fireplace is lit and the beautiful red stockings are hanging. The Christmas tree is decorated with colorful lights and ornaments. I was home alone with my dog Sam. We were just sitting by the fire and listening to Christmas music. Every year we would sit and watch the Christmas themes. Each neighbor had their own beautiful story to tell. The night seemed very stilled with not much traffic. You could see that the snow flurries were about to fall. Sam and I didn't care much ...

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“The Forgotten King’s Last Christmas” by A.A. Stitt

Submitted to Contest #229

In a desolate little hut, sheltered among a forest of untouched pines, and smothered by an unceasing blizzard, lived a forgotten King. The whole world once knew his name - now it was only heard whispered on the sharp, icy breeze which sliced mountains and chilled deserts as the dreaded moniker of a defeated foe. To adults, mention of it barely jingled a bell of recollection. They learned to forget him. Those who did remember condemned him as a tyrant and a symbol of evil. He was a krampus, a demon of winter. A dark conjuring of ancient magic...

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“Glad Tidings” by David Newcombe

Submitted to Contest #229

Iverton is one of those small, quaint villages that are the subject of countless holiday postcards. At least when postcards were popular. Apart from the very occasional visitor who has somehow drifted completely from their route, an increasingly rare event as GPS systems become more reliable, the town is left to its own devices. However, I found myself to be one such unintentional visitor well over thirty years ago, when mobile phones were yet to be reliably developed. It was Christmas Eve, and I was to meet my large, extended family to ce...

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“Tilly the Tenderhearted” by James Lane

Submitted to Contest #229

The reek of gun oil hits my nose before I open my eyes. Fitch is cleaning his revolver at the foot of my bunk again. “Can’t you do that outside?” I say.“No.” Fitch looks up and brushes back strands of ruddy hair. He’s got nice eyes. Green and intense when they look at you, like he’s hanging on to your every word. But there ain’t nothing going on behind Fitch’s eyes that don’t have to do with Fitch. “You don’t need it here,” I say. “The hell I don’t.” Fitch blows away dust from the cylinder. “You want another spooked kitch...

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“The Joke's on George” by Ray Murphy

Submitted to Contest #229

Providence, Rhode Island, 1994“Sincerity is hard to come by. Everything is such a setup,” George complained without reason while his wife, Wanda, concentrated on her eyeliner. ‘You’re in our thoughts and prayers.” He snorted. “If you count the thoughts, yeah. Once. Because you said it. I was in your thoughts. But how many of those hypocrites actually pray for anybody?”“George, will you calm down. People are just trying to be nice when they say that,” Wanda said. "You shouldn’t be insulted. You sound like my father! Besides, nobody has died! ...

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“Somewhere In My Memory” by Hannah P. Simmons

Submitted to Contest #229

BEEP BEEPI pull the curtain back and glance out the frosted window pane and see my daughter’s red hatchback parked on the curb. Our eyes meet, and she smiles nervously, waving a hand clad with fingerless gloves. I take a deep breath, grateful that the car is red. That made it easier to recall. Red is a Christmas color, after all.Pulling on my coat, I grip the doorknob and the panic rushes in like a flood.I can’t remember her name. Oh God. What is her name?My mouth gapes open, ragged breaths staggering in and out before I can even think to ca...

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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.

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