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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 175 of 185

A Helping Hand During the Holidays

Submitted to Contest #21

Thomas Wynn sighed. The Wynn Inn had serious money problems, and it was like customers were purposefully steering clear of his inn.Thomas had gone out into the freezing air while it was beginning to softly snow. He'd needed some fresh air, and the Wynn Inn needed to stock up some firewood before the big snowstorm that many people suspected was coming this way.Taking his ax, Thomas took a big swing and began chopping wood as quickly as possible."Hey, Tom!" called a familiar voice.Thomas turned around with a jolly smile on his face. "Hey, Dan!...

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Ho Ho Ho

Submitted to Contest #21

It’s been quiet in here for a few days. I stare a lot, at the window of my side bar. Ho Ho Ho Ho is spray painted on the window. But whichever waitress wrote it, did it the wrong way, so it reads oh oh oh inside, for the audience. Funny. No one passes the outside of that window, it faces another brick wall, of a bank. It’s not even where the smokers go. I think it was the new girl.  I’ve been drinking on shift. Sneaking shots of a local vodka every time I have to bend down to get something off the shelf. I’ve filled up the olive swords,...

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Fate

Submitted to Contest #21

'December at Brampton is my favourite time of year,' Eduardo mused, as he strode along by the stables. The mares, 'Ginger' and 'Silky' whinnied contentedly beneath the dim light of the stable lantern. Through slits in the stable door, Eduardo could see Silky's whitish, grey mane where it flowed along her sleek neck. Eduardo lingered for a while.'Silky's time to be delivered is near,' Eduardo murmured. He noticed her rounded, full belly. This would be her fifth foal. Silky's foals were much sought after. Eduardo revelled i...

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Who is that?

Submitted to Contest #21

I won’t say that I live in a city, nor in the country. Where I live is quite, it’s a small town. Not too many people but still enough to fill up a street. If there was ever an emergency my kids could easily run a few feet across the street to our neighbors house. The people around here are really kind. That's why I love this place. During the holiday season most of my neighborhood will go out to only god knows where. As more people leave to go on vacation, this one car shows up more often. I don't know who it is or what they want, so I just ...

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I don’t know why they keep doing it

Submitted to Contest #21

For the past few years my neighbors (everybody in town considering there are only about 2,000 people in Shubawshubaw) have all been going out of town for the important holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Mother’s Day (would’ve said Easter but I stopped really caring about it when I got too old for my granma to give me a basket). They’ve been going out of town and whle most of them have been able to step right back into living their normal lives some of them have been forced to completely redecorate their homes. Usually redec...

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The Moonlight Pub Christmas Party

Submitted to Contest #21

Having worked the night shift, its up to Sam to get the pub ready for the Christmas party which also happens to fall on the pubs ladies night. Usually Audrey would handle the set up and design but this year she was in Austin to pick up and spend some time with her SEAL fiancé getting ready for their wedding. And to top it all off… she won’t be in to cover the day shift so he’ll only be getting 3 hours of sleep before he has to be back behind the bar.  The day of the Christmas party dawns bright and sunny exactly the opposite of Sam...

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Santa's New Party Guests

Submitted to Contest #21

Rudolph was prancing around Santa’s workshop, excited about the spirit of Christmas. The snow was falling from the sky the way Rudolph nearly fell while carrying Santa’s sleigh across the night. The stars were shining and the night was young. “Merry Christmas” the reindeer sung. “Christmas party! Christmas party!” Rudolph cheered. To not have an annual Christmas party would be weird. Every year, after the toys are delivered to the kids who are good, Santa lights up the fire on the wood. Then, the reindeer sip their tea while Santa eats the c...

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The grinch who stole christmas ( And my life )

Submitted to Contest #21

What would YOU do if an Isabella O' Conner enters your life? Would you welcome her with open arms, or would you lock your doors and call the police? My initial reaction would be to call the police, but it turns out we were blood. Well, kind of. Let me tell you the story of how I met her.It was a somber afternoon. I had just finished my late Christmas shopping for my family, and was both physically and emotionally drained. I was driving in my maroon jeep, when I received a series of strange text messages from an unknown device. Just brush...

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ONE LAST GAME

Submitted to Contest #21

You are a bartender working a night shift when a group of people come in on a holiday pub crawl.   It has been a slow night. Mondays are usually that way. Everybody goes back to work, the weekend’s abuses fast forgotten. Even the few customers left, my regulars as I call them, are not much of anything, sipping a beer while doing crosswords, playing chess or drowsing. Like Charlie in front of me who has not touched his drink for the last fifteen minutes and decided to take a nap after telling me of his recent troubles with the wife. God ...

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The Letter

Submitted to Contest #21

Two days before Christmas, I received a letter in the mail from a man claiming to be my long lost brother. The letter stated that the guy’s name was Clinton and he was 32 years old. He was the oldest.He claimed that when our mother gave birth to him, she gave him up for adoption because at the time she did not want kids. He said he was told that the reason she did not want kids at that time was because she was not married. A year later after Clinton was born, she gave birth again. She was not married then either, but she kept the baby.The le...

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A Moonlight Pub Christmas Miracle

Submitted to Contest #21

Its that time of the year again! Those who truly know me, which are few and far between, think it strange of me to have such a fascination with the Christmas season given my history... but what can I say?Despite being the orphaned daughter of a prostitute junky, who entered the foster system at the age of 2, I love the holidays. That, however, is due to my adoptive dad. When I was 9 my mom overdosed and died, but by then I was staying with a foster couple named Trudy and Ian Kelly and they decided to adopt me. Then a couple of years later, s...

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We wish you a merry doomsday

Submitted to Contest #21

There had been some discussion about the dress code for the Christmas party. Mike from Financial Exploitation had suggested ugly Christmas sweaters but he had been shouted down by the eco-conscious millennials from Propaganda. Jess from Inhuman Resources was all for science fiction, Dylan from Nuclear Acquisitions wanted horror, and Ana from Hacking said they might as well drop the dress code altogether because there was no way in hell she would change out of her ripped jeans and oversized hoodie anyway. In the end, word had come down from o...

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Interstice

Submitted to Contest #21

December.A month full of twists and turns, a month with an inevitable scent of holiday. A long month, yet at the same time short. The boy was born in the month mentioned. That fact didn’t make him look forward to December. At all, at all. In fact, if he may be honest, he did not like winter and hoped that the snow will soon go fly a kite from the roof or something.Snow on the roof, snow along the fence, snow on trees, mountains of snow in front of the house; it dizzied him seeing so many blank white. The main paved road stretched into the di...

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A Christmas Miracle

Submitted to Contest #21

Toronto, Canada 1902A few days before Christmas            The feather duster swept over the rows of already clean keys. Benjamin shuffled around to the other side of the desk; his shoulders hunched as he slowly made his way to the front door of his little Inn. His gnarled hand carefully gripped the brass door handle and with effort pulled the heavy oak door open; a small smile formed on his face as he watched the snowflakes gracefully fall from the night sky. The winter wonderland outsi...

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Damn! What a lovely holiday.

Submitted to Contest #21

December in Motton was a chilly, shivering month. Slough of cold, snow-draped wind gusted dangerously, leaving a blurry, misty ambiance. The road was sheathed with a three-inch high snow floor, deserted, suffused with blobs of faint streetlights that tried to accentuate the obscured beauty of the town. The time was edging past seven-thirty in the evening when Richard Wayne dawdled through the snow-filled road, puffing out a white-blanketed air of disgruntlement. He was clad in a heavy, dark hoodie, and his face was barely perceivable in the ...

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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