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Write about a family’s first holiday after a parent has gotten remarried, and now there are new faces at the table and new traditions to be honored.

Posted in Holiday on Jun 12, 2021

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✍️ 98 stories

Thank You

Submitted to Contest #69

“She’s here!”“You're kidding.”“She’s here!”I couldn’t believe it. Our new mom is here? Right now?“Come and meet her, April!”“Michael! Alright, fine. I’m coming!”We stomped into the yard, the gravel scraping our boots. The garden here was empty and barren. We had stopped growing things after Mom had gone. Kicking at a clump of dirt and weeds, I pushed off the overwhelming thoughts of death and roses, and focused on the new mom. I was… happy, nervous, and sad. What if she takes advantage of Dad? What if she beats us and abuses us? What if…I st...

107 likes 272 comments 272
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My Uncle By the Sea

Shortlisted for Contest #69 ⭐️

1. Backpfeifengesicht | noun | (German) ‘A face that begs to be slapped.’ My uncle married a woman when I was three. Her name was Katharine and she had golden threads for hair and a voice like the tinkling notes of a piano. Coming from a long line of Germans, she could be sweet and sugary or tight-lipped and harsh. She chose me and my older cousin to be the flower girl and ring bearer, giving us a basket full of creamy white rose petals and two silver rings with the instruction not to lose them. Now I was only three and there are t...

94 likes 97 comments 97
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Creepy Farmer Guy for Christmas Dinner

Submitted to Contest #69

I already hated him when he stepped his foot inside, sweat giving a glimpse of his ugly tan face. His ragged jeans were splotched with dry dirt, and his hat just made everything worse. He looked like a proud farmer. The creepy kind with the frozen smile that matches his wide eyeballs.The wood creaked as he came inside. “Hey, fellas!”I kept quiet and barged into a bundle of noodles. He quickly came over and sat down across from mine. “What are we having today?”My mom appeared in the kitchen. “Chicken and mashed potatoes!” she called out.“Why ...

92 likes 44 comments 44
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You'll get used to it

Submitted to Contest #69

November 28th, 2031Are you kidding me? It hasn't been that long since it happened and Father is already with someone new. I'm pretty sure it's only been a few days since then, what the heck? I guess I'll try to keep this updated.November 30th, 2031Father had told us all today how much he 'loved' this lady, I think he said her name was Zia. Did he end up falling in love with her at first sight? That wouldn't really surprise me that much, I'm pretty sure that's how he met Mother. He wants us to go meet her in a few hours or so.December 1st, 20...

77 likes 441 comments 441
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Thanksgiving Surprise

Submitted to Contest #69

I gaze around the room and sigh. It’s full of old cardboard boxes, both big and little, that seem to make the tiny room even smaller. I walk over to the mattress beside me and plop down on it, sending a cloud of dust up into the air. It’s lumpy and covered with an unsafe amount of dust. Probably a victim from Andrews’s college years, which he claims was not that long ago but we all know different. Andrew is my new stepfather, he’s… fine. He is a middle-aged man with a semi-large bald head and a tall body, six-foot-three to be exact...

70 likes 179 comments 179
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Divorce Dangers

Submitted to Contest #69

  Holidays weren’t always this hard. I used to have fun with them, but this Christmas was different. Usually, both my parents were here. we’d gather around the table while we opened presents and laughed as my dog ran around, attempting to eat the wrapping paper as it fell from our laps. After the divorce, my whole life changed. I was happy; I thought our whole family was. That is until the shouting coming from my parent's room grew louder and more often. As I smoothed down my new, green satin dress, I knew this Christmas would be m...

47 likes 15 comments 15
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New Traditions

Submitted to Contest #69

Author’s note- This is not a backstory but the main character Isabella is Rachel’s grandmother mentioned in Regret, Rachel named her daughter ‘Bella’ after Isabella.“Isabella, this is my new fiance...your soon to be mother.” My father announced, I noticed he had his hand clasped around hers affectionately.“What about mum?” I whined. How could he even think about marrying someone else?“She’ll be in my heart but...” He looked at his new love. “So will she.” They exchanged a smile at each other.“We are to get married this month... in two weeks....

46 likes 20 comments 20
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Out With The Regular, In With The New

Submitted to Contest #69

I stared at the door to my closet, anxiety eating its way into my throat as I gathered my courage to go face my new family.“Oakley!” My mother calls. “Come out of your room!”I take a deep breath and emerge from my closet.The crisp winter light seeps through my window as the sun sets. It's only four in the afternoon, but still, we are going to be completely dark by four-thirty.I look down at what I am wearing, a nice red dress that Mom and I went shopping for. It’s a little bit dirty from my time in the closet, but that’s good.I have been dre...

44 likes 11 comments 11
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The Heart Beneath the Bib

Submitted to Contest #69

He’s wearing a sweater vest, red and green knit argyle hugging the slight curve of his belly. I try not to stare. Mom never bought anything like this for Dad, which means that Rick must have bought this for himself. I picture him browsing a rack of sweater vests at Macy’s, muzak wafting lightly as he runs his soft, manicured fingers over the acrylic (this one’s too heavy, this one’s too itchy…) and evaluates the merits of different patterns (too loud, trapezoids aren’t really me…). This, to me, is the essence of Rick.Not that I know much abo...

41 likes 11 comments 11
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Becoming a Kirkwood

Submitted to Contest #69

 “OMG! OMG! OMG! I can’t believe this is happening!” In case you were wondering, I wasn’t the one squealing. It was my 35 years old mother! (Was I embarrassed? Slightly. Was I happy and wished that I was jumping up and down and squealing beside her? Absolutely! But well, I was trying to act all calm and composed at that moment.) It wasn’t every day one got to see their mother in a beautiful white bridal dress, and fussing about her appearance before walking down the aisle. It had been so long since I’d seen such a beautif...

36 likes 43 comments 43
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It's the Count That Thoughts

Submitted to Contest #69

The vampire raised the blade, a mad grin on his face. “And now for the feast!” His voice boomed through the hall, carried across the air as if on the backs of invisible bats. Outside, lightning lit the manor’s grounds. Thunder cracked the sky, the rumble of a grizzly bear’s growl. Somewhere deep in the bowels of the castle, a cathedral organ played. The notes vibrated in their bellies, reverberated in their bones.He plunged the knife in. Those around the table made appreciative noises. The count sliced bits off the cooked carcass. He placed ...

33 likes 8 comments 8
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The Deliberate Walker

Submitted to Contest #69

The old man likes to walk.The rhythmic footsteps, the sense of progress, the chance to think things through, to pray, to deliberate, to purposefully plod, the series of small decisions that the walking inevitably includes, the brief stop on the corner of 7th Avenue and 49th Street or Fort Hamilton and New Utrecht, the quick glances, first left, then right, then straight ahead, always in that order, before the controlled and, at the same time, gut-instinct determination is made on the optimal path to take on that particular day, at that parti...

31 likes 27 comments 27
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Baubles

Submitted to Contest #69

Baubles. Baubles all along the floor, Broken to bits, shards still slowly spinning. Some were glass orbs, while others were the traditional red ball ornaments that my mom loved. All of them, broken. Broken by me. By ME. I snapped out of my trance, looking around at the wreckage. I'd had another black-out, and broken something. A lot of somethings, actually. "Cherrie, what happened?" my dad asked as he walked down the hall, towards the box-filled, butter-yellow living room, just around the bend, unable to see what I'd done. "Did you d...

28 likes 8 comments 8
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South African Christmas Traditions

Submitted to Contest #69

I was around 11 years old when my father remarried. In choosing what parent to reside with by order of the divorce decree I chose my father who was granted full custody. There were several reasons why I stood firm to live with my Pops. The main reason was the fact that he earned 6 figures. I truly enjoyed the big house, my friends, school and I wasn’t even sure did my mother know I existed. My mother enjoyed the taste of Martini’s morning, noon and night. Her favorite saying after the first sip was Shaken Not Stirred and she repeated that Ja...

21 likes 2 comments 2
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Not a Normal Family

Submitted to Contest #69

I woke up at 6 AM today. It is 22nd October, the second last day of Durga Puja. The sky was overcast and there was a nip in the air. When I entered the dining hall, I saw Samar sitting there with his glass of milk and Meera halfway through her bowl of cornflakes. We were now past the awkward step siblings’ phase and since I was only a year older than them, we got along just fine. My family is not very usual, in the sense that we are all different people with different lives who are brought together under the title of the Chatterjee-Roy’s. be...

20 likes 19 comments 19
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