Prompt:
Think
of all the inspirational Christmas stories you’ve read over your lifetime,
maybe the ones you read in a Chicken Soup book. Now write one of your own. Share
your special stories about the holiday season, from inspirational and joyous,
to heartwarming and humorous, from childhood or adulthood, from family times or
alone times. Your story can be fiction or non-fiction, with a word count up to
950 words.
Even
if you don’t write for our InScribe blog, you can prepare a true story for
Chicken Soup (some InScribe members have already had a Chicken Soup Christmas
story accepted or published).
Chicken
Soup compiles a Christmas edition every other year, and here below is the
invitation and next call for submissions from their “Possible Book Topics.”
Chicken
Soup Stories about the Christmas Season
“Our
holiday books are very popular. We do a new edition every other year and so we
are now collecting stories for our Christmas 2015 book. Share your special
stories about the holiday season… from inspirational and joyous, to
heartwarming and humorous… The deadline for story and poem submissions is January 31, 2015.”
Meanwhile, a Story about my Treasured
Moments
Last Christmas as my friend Jeanie and I walked
her dog, she told me how she remembers each Christmas. She buys bought an
ornament each year and writes a note about that Christmas. For example, the
year she was lonely and walked into a fabric store and was mesmerized by giant
snowflakes suspended from the ceiling, gently swaying in the breezes as people
entered and left the store. The year Christmas was +15 degrees in Calgary. The
Christmas of the Great Tsunami. The year she married Victor.
Her tradition began during a lonely year before
she and Victor met and before she became a Christian. To compensate for
receiving no presents, she wrapped up a small empty box, put an ornament inside
and wrote out a memory of that year.
Now each Christmas as Jeanie decorates her
tree and adds a festive air to her house, she adds a new box and ornament and reflects
on those past Christmases.
What a
great idea!
I thought. A memorial. Why don’t I write my
memories from Christmases past?
It’s
an idea that had crossed my mind before, and so I began. I listed highlights from a number of past
Christmases, and began adding treasured stories.
I decided to make this project long-term; each
year I would gradually fill in anecdotes and comments from past years, in addition
to writing the memories from the current year.
I realized that in reviewing past years, God
had given me the gift of His presence in many of those experiences.
Now over to you. What Christmas memories come
to mind for you? What Christmas story will you write? What meaning does it have
for you?
