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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

“Someday” by C.N. Jung

Submitted to Contest #229

“Look, dad.” Sara sighed. She held the phone under one arm while she struggled to coral the wild papers strewn across her desk into a neat pile. “Not this time, okay? Maybe this summer. I’ve got work coming out of my ears, and some major tests coming up after the break. I have to study.” Sara got the papers in order. She stuck them into the briefcase she was holding. “Law school isn’t a walk in the park, you know.” “Sara, honey, I know you're busy.” A deep voice breathed from the phone. Sara did a quick glance around her cubicle. Every...

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“Groundhog Day with Grace” by Keelan LaForge

Submitted to Contest #229

Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? I loved it until that became my Christmas every year. It always felt like a laughably improbable concept, until it came to fruition in my own life. One year, I started going to my great aunt Grace’s for the entirety of Christmas Day. I planned for it to be a one-off. She’s a pain in the proverbial; everything always has to be “just so.” She put me in in charge of bringing a decorative garland for the table centrepiece. I’m not a centrepiece kind of guy. I didn’t even know where to get one, but s...

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“Some kind of a Christmas story” by Matei-Dacian Boboc

Submitted to Contest #229

"I think I’m stuck in here! A little help, please..." she whispered to Holly, who leaned over to examine the situation. Her friend was kneeling behind the Christmas tree, trying to plug in the sparkling garlands. She was a bit scared and kind of disgusted because of the dust on the floor in that hidden corner. It seemed like it wasn’t her home. But it was."Yes, I don’t really know if I should help you or if I’d just let you there. But I’m a really good friend, you know?” Holly replied to the cry for help from her best friend. She gave C...

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“Redemption's Bitter Path” by T. B. Spruiells

Submitted to Contest #229

Scott's sweatpants scoured his skin with each step over the bridge. Time was the only thing that could wash away the stench of horror endured for the last year, and he wasn't sure it would ever dissipate. He clenched his tickets, a reminder of his opportunity for a do-over. When he arrived at Rikers, he had a team of people to part the sea of paparazzi. Tonight, there were just two cameras, one from channel five and the other from a cable station. It's funny how everyone rides with you to the top, but no one trudges through the mud when it m...

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“Christmas Eve at Uncle John’s” by Jake Scott

Submitted to Contest #229

Minnesota winters were long, and when snow fell, Dad cleared the driveway with his coveted plow. I’d wake to sounds of the engine sputtering, scraping ice, and Allman Brothers blasting through the garage radio. Basketball started and I began coming home late. At those hours, when night swept the neighborhood like a cloak, our house appeared majestic. The Christmas lights Dad strung across the front and weaved intricately through the porch twinkled below winter stars. Packed in tight mounds around the blacktop’s minitature basketball court, t...

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“My Chaotic Christmas” by Audrey Russell

Submitted to Contest #229

My day started out just like any other. I talked with my friends, got home, and checked for mail. When I checked the mailbox though I found a letter from my mom. It was a basic, white envelope with a USA stamp on the corner, and both of our names and addresses. She lives in another state and doesn't write to me much so I was pretty surprised to see her name on an envelope. A wide smile spread across my face as I slowly opened it and read it. It was a cute Christmas card, it had Santa on the front with lots of littles elves. There was a small...

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“‘Twas the Night Blitz Saved Christmas” by Edward Roberts

Submitted to Contest #229

Blitz watched the digital clock placed above a sign that read International Date Line as it changed from 11:59:59 PM to 12:00:00 AM. An alarm, both musical and jarring, sounded throughout the facility. Another twenty-four straight hours of living hell, he thought to himself. Last minute updates to the naughty list, ensuring the correct type of batteries go in each stocking and updating weather reports in real time. Maybe this year Christmas can go smoothly. He moped over to the wall phone then punched in a code to make an announ...

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“Ep 4 - A Christmas to Forget to Remember! - SERIES: Adventures of A&J” by Mary Black Rose

Submitted to Contest #229

Did I ever tell you about the time I got amnesia on Christmas Eve?The Christmas of 1952 was a doozy. It stormed for three days straight. The adults thought we’d be snowed in for the season. Then, by some holiday miracle of nature, the storm lifted on December 23rd.My cousin Jeremy and I were only thirteen years old.Jeremy, in all his excitement for the grandest holiday of the year, combined with his propensity for shenanigans on any given day, was going to convince me that we had to go down to Tellers Pond and spend the whole day having outd...

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“Remembering You” by Isla Iversen

Submitted to Contest #229

Christmas was never the same after the year I turned fifteen. Of course, I was nearing the end of puberty. Like other boys my age, I had a dark air around me. The storm of it washed away the naivete of my childhood. My mother, a crude and cold woman called it, "finally growing a pair". She wasn't the same after that year either. Not when my father had the nerve to die the day before Christmas Eve. I was a quiet child. My mother was loud. She and her girlfriends were like catbirds fighting with crows at all hours of the day. Now that my fath...

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“Winter Wonderland” by Tatiana Samokhina

Submitted to Contest #229

Scene 1. Hospital.“Mum, is uncle Albert dead?”Alex knocks on his uncle's forehead, knock-knock-knock. Maybe a bird will fly out? Or a ghost. A ghost is better, Alex likes ghosts. Not that he's ever met one, but he'll definitely like them once they meet. But no birds, no ghosts - uncle doesn't move. He sits on the bed, his legs hanging down like two helpless sausages. He stares at Alex, his eyes round, his gaze empty and mouth ajar.“No, sweety, he's just a little sick.” Mum is a bit dismissive.“Uncle, are you dead?” Alex asks, curiously peepi...

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“Henry Cromwell's Christmas Epiphany” by Samuel Lees

Submitted to Contest #229

Henry Cromwell was a man who did not like Christmas. Well, I wouldn't say that he didn't like Christmas, I think it would be more accurate to say that Henry Cromwell despised Christmas. He hated anything and everything related to Christmas. He looked down on the notions of gift giving and feasting during the Christmas period as 'just some money grabbing ploy by big business to rob people of their hard earned wages.' Also, he specifically despised and detested the cheer and jollity people would wear along with their naff Christmas clothing. D...

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“Bah Humbug” by Kyra Arrington

Submitted to Contest #229

Bah humbug. It’s cold, wet and snowy. Why do people like this holiday? There’s too many lights, so many Christmas songs on repeat. How many Christmases will Mariah Carey want ”you.” I hope she finally gets that this year so it can stop. It’s so expensive, so many subliminal messages for people to buy the most expensive, trendy things. Christmas Eve in New York is terrible. Christmas is terrible. So many shoppers, so many carols, it’s my least favorite holiday. I just want to get home and sleep. The days are getting longer because of the holi...

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“House of Light and Dark” by Edward Brown

Submitted to Contest #229

No one called him Carter. He was Mr. Cash, if anyone spoke to him, a rarity. When passed on Main Street, he didn’t even grunt a hello or nod. He had been a high school biology teacher, the kind who the students hated until they left his class – or even later, graduated – and realized they’d learned from him. About biology, and more importantly about life, how to carry oneself. He didn’t repeat that hokey parental stuff students were used to. He rarely answered their questions, forcing them to search for answers themselves. He announced ea...

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“Fixing a Misunderstanding” by John King

Submitted to Contest #229

Fixing a Misunderstanding Paul was sitting at his desk in the office finishing some reports. He was a detective with the Fort Worth Police Department and he was going home to Texarkana, Texas, for Christmas. It had been a rough year. His six-year marriage had ended four months ago because his wife, Patricia, wanted him to leave the force and get a regular job. Paul had considered it, but he had been a detective for ten years. The pay was steady, he loved the work and he just couldn’t find anything else he wanted to do. He was thirty-two yea...

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“A Decade Through December” by Charlotte Sheffield

Submitted to Contest #229

“How’ve you been?” He blew the steam across his coffee before taking a sip. How’ve you been? Really? After all this time, that’s all you’ve got? I took my mittens off and placed them on the table. “Pretty good. It’s nice being home for the holiday. It’s been a rough year, but we’re getting through it.” “We?” “Yeah. We.” I held up my hand just as I had dozens of times over the past few weeks. The ring reflected the multitude of lights that lit up the small coffee shop. He leaned forward to get a better look. “Oh yeah. I keep up with you onlin...

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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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