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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about an unconventional holiday tradition.

Posted in Holiday on Dec 23, 2022

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✍️ 52 stories

“The Magic of December 23rd” by Lindsay Flo

Submitted to Contest #178

The was once a time that Christmas felt magical. When December was full of early dusk dotted with lights and Silent Night playing softly on the radio. When eagerness built through weekends that were punctuated with snowflakes that never amounted to anything, only there for the ambiance. Christmas Eve was a whole vibe of its own: cookie baking and grown-ups off work early and evening gatherings to get ready for, all in anticipation of the main event, Christmas Day. These days, I walk the aisles of the mall in search of that magical feeling...

9 comments 9
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“Eyes On The List” by Cathy Nottingham

Submitted to Contest #178

Normal Saturdays are bad enough. But this is the darkest of all Saturdays. The Saturday before Christmas and the inescapable tradition of festive panic buying. Record numbers of frantic, greedy, hunter gatherers in tracksuit bottoms, woolly hats and caffeinated eyes, drag paper chains of children across the car park in various states of tantrum, whinging and sugar infused mania. First, I have to get to the front door. Weaving between queues of rageful drivers as they inch forward to the bumper in front. The tension in the air is as dense a...

2 comments 2
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“You” by Aaron K

Submitted to Contest #178

You’ve never looked better than you do on this Sunday afternoon.  It’s Christmas Eve, and you are beautiful. Your hair is tucked under your red toque, but a few loose tendrils have escaped, framing your face . Your jacket is open and you have a matching red scarf at your neck. When we left the car forty five minutes ago, the scarf was knotted under your chin, but the hike has made you warm so you’ve untied it. I look back at you, struggling on the path a few feet behind me, and something about the way the red knitted fabric frames y...

4 comments 4
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“Sunnyside Up ” by Amy Dear

Submitted to Contest #178

Quinn watched as his sister scarfed down plate after plate of endless pancakes from the local diner while only taking short breaks to smother the carbs in slabs of butter. He tried to avert his eyes and pretend to be interested in something outside the window whenever she'd sense his staring. "Ya know what?" She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and chugged from her orange juice before pointing a syrup dripping fork at him. "You weren't worried about carbs before you got with Linda." She shook her head before stabbing another pancake. Quinn pur...

4 comments 4
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“Christmas Dip” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #178

           Matthew and Patty met by chance at a skating rink in Toronto, Ontario. Matthew, a former hockey player, was recovering from an injury brought on by a hard body check at the last game that he played.            He was known as “The Bull” by his teammates and fans because of his ability to knock down any player that got in his way. His reputation preceded him, and a few players from opposing teams had a grudge against him. &...

3 comments 3
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“The Season of Scaleward” by Mike Paul

Submitted to Contest #178

Dawn, the 19th of Macha, fourth cycle of Tellus       The dawnfrost danced with the light of a thousand emeralds. Ovens blazed anew, filling the morning air with millberry and spiced mead scents. The northern town of Snowmarble came to life that morning, ready to celebrate the passing of another solar cycle, and Lily Westhaven was already on her way downstairs. She took the stairs three at a time, a song in her heart, nightgown billowing in the breeze of her own creation. "Max! Max! Come quick, come quick! T...

5 comments 5
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“Making the List” by Sharon Catlett

Submitted to Contest #178

Jenny was running to the bedroom to cry before Steve could catch her.   “Jen wait!”   “No, I’m the worst cook ever!” “No, you are not, you just need practice” Jenny cried louder and Steve winced knowing that was not the right thing to say.  Facedown on the bed Jenny cried long and hard as Steve stroked her blonde hair. Steve loved this girl from the moment he laid eyes on her at Billy Bob’s during Texas OU weekend.  They enjoyed the great music and dancing and when the evening ended, ...

4 comments 4
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“A Day of Christmas Baking” by Eileen Donovan

Submitted to Contest #178

Guess I’ve put this phone call off long enough. Why did my sister decide making a plum pudding for Mom and a fruitcake for Dad would be the perfect way to bring a little holiday spirit and harmony to the family? I happen to enjoy Saturdays by myself sans holiday spirit. Maybe she’ll have to work after all. Nurses’ schedules are always changing. Fingers crossed. Good. The phone’s still ringing. No answer. Oh well, I tried to confirm our plans. Just as I was set to hit the “End Call” button, I heard, “Hello?” “Oh, hi, you’re home.” ...

3 comments 3
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“Billie and the Great Red Spot” by Jess Maynard

Submitted to Contest #178

Billie's birthday happened to fall on a very special holiday for the residents of her city. A Jovian New Year only happens once every 11.9 Earth years, after all. The research station where Billie and her family live, New Alexandria, orbits Jupiter every 400 days and is home to 10,000 people. Billie came home from school the day before her birthday at a dead sprint, banging the door to her family's living quarters open already halfway through a conversation she’d been waiting to have all day, as if she'd been barely holding it in the ent...

7 comments 7
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“ THE CHRISTMAS NUT” by Mara Masolini

Submitted to Contest #178

THE CHRISTMAS NUT Mary and Louis spent every Christmas in their cottage in the Alpes with their children. They had been married for ten years. Every year, at Christmas there was a new child. In their cozy cottage, there was always a Christmas tree and a Nativity scene made with the figurines that Louis and Mary engraved in wood and that their children modeled in clay. To have a pinch of novelty to the usual Christmas Mary and Louis had decided to inaugurate a completely new tradition. All of them were found in nuts and loved squirrels.&nbs...

2 comments 2
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“The Other Side of Christmas” by Frank Delgado

Submitted to Contest #178

Frank Delgado 13600 SW. brightwood St Beaverton OR 97005-1115 503 8963022 tolpinsk@yahoo.com 1,400 words THE OTHER 07-10-19 by Frank Delgado 1 The Other Side of Christmas By Frank Delgado There is an experience in my life, a unique yet haunting moment, that is so vivid, that it's trapped in time and returns every Christmas. The reason for this fear began in 1959 as a child in Bavaria, Germany, in a farmhouse in the middle of a snowfield on the edge of the Black Forest. It was a time of lights, gifts, food, friends, and family; it was C...

1 comment 1
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“Catholic School Memories” by Kathryn Minicozzi

Submitted to Contest #178

My onstage debut was unforgettable. I was Innkeeper No. Two in St. Joseph’s Elementary School’s Annual Christmas Pageant. That was the year we First Graders were reenacting the Nativity as part of the Show that All Parents Were Expected to Sit Through. Each grade presented something different, and our school went up to Grade Eight. You can imagine how long the whole mess was every year. Getting back to my debut -- my choices were limited when it came to being cast in any of the parts. The plum roles were out of the...

4 comments 4
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“Holiday Call” by T.M. Kehoe

Submitted to Contest #178

“Margaret — call for you.” William enjoyed her scowl of displeasure. She had been annoying him all day. He felt it only just that she have to take the call this year. He wouldn’t admit how much pleasure he took in her discomfort. William was stout, dressed in an old-fashioned tweed suit, with his tie loosened, and the top button of his pants unbuttoned for comfort. His hair, sleek, white, and still thick, was combed across his head, parted with a ruler on the left.Margaret was thin rather than stout, with iron-gray curls rioting around her h...

5 comments 5
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“April Fools” by Rose Bower

Submitted to Contest #178

Mild swear warning The day started off normally, the Aunties pitched together to make a feast and the Uncles decorated the courtyard. The grandparents sat in the shade and watched, and the children ran around, getting under everyone's feet. I sat down under the big oak, reading my new favourite book, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. I was thinking up some new pranks as well, our family is well known for its elaborate, and exciting jokes. This year I thought I might do something with the ducks. I had a vague idea including balloons, streamers, ...

2 comments 2
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“Something Old. Something New.” by Kenneth Kendall

Submitted to Contest #178

Kandiss looked around the apartment. It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas. As she threaded the garland around and through the bannister, thinking of the years she had done the same with her mom, she couldn’t help but mourn for David’s traditionless upbringing. At the bottom of the spiral stair that led to their bedroom, she looked at the tiny living area and felt nothing but joy. A micro version of the Christmas splendor that she had basked in growing up with her family in Bloomfield Hills. A suburb of Detroit. R...

7 comments 7
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Contest #178

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