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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of holiday short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

2760+ Holiday Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. Whether you’re looking for a wintery cup of cheer or a ray of sunshine during a summertime festival, our holiday short stories will have you feeling the spirit in no time.

Holiday Short Stories – Page 173 of 185

The Safest Neighborhood

Submitted to Contest #21

I don’t like to travel on holidays and Christmas is the worst, but the job in Sicily was too juicy to pass up. A nice half million profit for two days work made getting back on the solstice worth it. I saw him Saturday about midnight turning into my driveway. He stood out crouched behind Steve’s hedge across the street, the black he wore was different than the blacks in the hedge. I watched him check out several homes over the next five nights, but the Simpsons seemed his favorite.          &...

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Emma, the stranger

Submitted to Contest #21

The doorbell rang. The family was decorating the tree. They looked at each other.-Bella, can you open the door, please?Said the mother of the family.Bella, the seventeen-year-old daughter, opened the entrance door. A lady with pure white hair was standing there, her back to the door.-Hello?Said Bella.The old woman turned around.-Oh hi. Is this… Jean's family’s house?-It is.Replied Bella and looked at the woman hesitantly.-Oh, my name is Emma.She reached her hand toward Bella Jean.They shook hands.-Who was at the door, Bella?Called father fro...

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A Fearful Time of the Year

Submitted to Contest #21

As a contractual security officer assigned to a public state office, I very much wanted to finish my secret assignment of stuffing confidential letters into envelopes slated for the day's outgoing mail. I was eager to join the Christmas party downstairs in the conference room. I could smell the fresh hot party pizza delivered by the courier ten minutes ago. If I somehow finished this last batch of letters, I knew I could at least help myself to a ridiculous edgy pepperoni slice no one wanted.Liz, a state caseworker, poked her head ...

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Punch Bowl

Submitted to Contest #21

No one had really taken the “no fraternization among coworkers” policy seriously. And when Boris Spivak had been fired for unrelated offenses three months after his affair with Margaret Gorp began, the point seemed moot anyway. Maybe in light of what happened last Wednesday we should reconsider.If anyone had noticed a change in Margaret’s demeanor after Boris left, they never mentioned it. She had retained her usual level of professionalism, though in retrospect she was perhaps a bit more reserved; however, she had never really been very out...

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Stella's New Old Gift

Submitted to Contest #21

Stella’s New Old Gift  It was Stella’s 35th Christmas Eve on this planet. It hadn’t been a great year for her. Her extreme social awkwardness had gotten worse, there was her ugly breakup, followed by the depression, which was followed by the relapse of drug abuse. On the bright side, she didn’t need to worry about her job getting in the way of her holiday fun. She’d been let go from her first grade teaching gig because of the failed drug test, but that was a couple of weeks ago, and she’d been sober for the last 9 days. So things were l...

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The Sub-Par Gift Giver

Submitted to Contest #21

It started out as a simple mistake that ballooned into an unmanageable mess, one even the manager couldn't manage. Considering John worked a nine to five office job at an insurance company, the annual company Christmas party should have been nothing special. Just a white elephant gift exchange, and some really low budget, store-bought Christmas cookies. The Christmas festivities started about two weeks before Christmas. The email, sent out by the office manager, left no hint that an actual human had even written it. It was a monotonous remin...

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Saving Silver Heights

Submitted to Contest #21

Rhonda Khaleesi looked around her dusty little office in dismay. For she knew that if she didn’t have but one customer this season, that she and her beautiful old Victorian style inn was going to be shut down. Quite frankly Rhonda was surprised that the Inn had lasted this long. The most recent visitor only stayed for a night before hightailing it down highway 95 on their way to Las Vegas. Rhonda had lived in Tonopah, Nevada all of her life, and she was constantly reminded of the good old mining days of the town she had grown to love. Everyo...

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Tradition

Submitted to Contest #21

Every Christmas retains the pungent smell of Iranian stews and dog shit. It’s more comforting than it sounds, really. A tradition of ours is to go up to our grandfather’s house for Christmas day after all, and two spoiled Havanese pups aren’t going to change that. My siblings and I always look forward to the exciting night; food, partying, and money are all proper forms of motivation. Every year has been essentially the same for the past ten years or so, and no one expected this year to be any different.  We were incredibly wrong. ...

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The Gift of Giving

Submitted to Contest #21

Mr. Robinson stared out the window of his quaint, modest inn. He looked sadly at the neon vacancy sign shining in the night. Even during the holiday season, there were no customers. He sighed to himself as he wondered how he could possibly keep his pride and joy running. “I’ve put so much into this little inn,” he said miserably to himself. He had already taken 150 dollars out-of-pocket that month just to keep the lights on and the water running at the inn, and he only had one customer during that time. As he gazed at the crumbling road...

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The Unexpected Visitor

Submitted to Contest #21

                I can hear the warm fire crackle as flames dance in the ingle before me. I bury myself deeper into the blankets, not for warmth but for its soft and fleecy texture that makes me feel like I am wrapped in a giant hug. Feeling my eyes grow heavier by the second, I try to resist falling asleep but only find myself to be sinking further in. I am just about to succumb to my fatigue when three jaunty knocks bang on my door. Grudgingly, I ...

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A Christmas Miracle

Submitted to Contest #21

Cathy sighed as she looked at her daughter on the couch with her new grandson. She was terrified. She knew that her daughter needed help with money; the inn was the source of that money. For the past few months, Cathy had been running numbers. The likelihood of lasting until the next holiday season were slim. Her daughter was an aspiring author in a rough spot. Meredith nodded to sleep, looking comfortable on the sofa.  "Mer, darling," Cathy said quietly. Meredith looked up, suddenly wide awake. Her baby began to cry. The soun...

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I Think I’ve Got At Least One More Year In This Place, Kid

Shortlisted for Contest #21 ⭐️

A dirty white rag moving counterclockwise on a mahogany brown table. An image so well-ingrained in my head that I would often catch myself wiping down these same tables in my dreams, night after night. 40 years in the business and there were a number of things that I would never forget: the smell of beer mixed with the cleaning solution, the specific songs on the jukebox that played over and over each night, the crack of pool balls, and the warm ring of laughter. These days, some of those things were more common than others. The beer and cle...

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Not Anymore

Submitted to Contest #21

The notes of the song ping hollowly through the smoke-filled air -- each note more adamant to stand alone. They would be the sole entertainers if not for the violent rapping of the wind on our fragile door.On the far end of the bar, one of the regulars sit. His eyes are unfocused but gazing in my general direction. If not for his lit cigarette, I'd think he's a stiff corpse. We've shared a few words. I think he's a contractor. Maybe a baker now that I think about it.He knows that I don't belong here.Hunching over in my seat, I draw my attent...

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Merry Christmas Mother!

Submitted to Contest #21

England, the town of Acocks Green, the year 2019, October. On the eve of Christmas, I recall being awoken at 3:16 am, to the darkness of night, by a cold snap of air that sent shivers down the hairs of my neck down, leaving a cold crust that covered my entire being, the fierceness of it imposing upon me, so that I am compelled to wrap my entire body within my quilt, like an ancient mummy in a tomb. Except in winter, I would sleep only in my boxers as it was most comfortable for me. On this night in particular, I had been laying on my right s...

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Fancy Not Knowing That!

Submitted to Contest #21

I overheard Mother telling the maid to prepare the yellow room (that’s one of the chambers facing the inner courtyard). “Rowena is an orphan”, Mother said to me later, “she is my late sister’s only daughter and she is coming to live with us”. I had so many questions “So she is my cousin? How come I never heard about her?”, but I knew better than to ask Mother, whose lips were even more firmly pressed together than usual. My sisters have to be dressed up all the time. But Rowena came to us wearing jeans and flat shoes. She is so weird! When ...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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