O Christmas Tree
Fifties by the Fire
Fifties by the Fire — a fifty-word, prompt-based writing exercise. Feel free to share your response below, or read and comment to join the fun.
Prompt: Write a fifty or one-hundred-word story (fiction, CNF, or poetry) about a Christmas tree.
Here are the other guidelines:
Make sure your story is exactly fifty—or in this case, one hundred—words. Feel free to use Word Counter or your preferred word processor.
Write a title with the genre in the first line.
The title does not factor into the word count.
Good luck and have fun. Happy writing!
Special thanks to John Lightle for providing “The Season for All” for our writing prompt. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Below is my contribution.
Coming Home, fiction (100 words)
It was Christmas Eve.
Phillip decorated the tree he’d hauled up from the basement. Those stairs got more difficult with each passing year.
“Take me away, Barbara,” he said, huffing and puffing.
Bing Crosby’s voice filled the silent home, but the ornaments brought Phillip back to magical mornings, surrounded by his wife and children. White Christmases. Dreams come true.
He delicately hung popsicle stick reindeer and construction paper wreaths—dates and names scrawled in big, bubbly letters on the back.
Exhausted, he sat down and fell asleep in his recliner.
When he woke, Barbara and his parents welcomed him home.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! 🎄
Say My Name/Fiction
“Hey, Christmas Tree,” the kids mocked Mike Tannenbaum, translating his last name. Ironic since his was the only family on the block without one. For Hanukkah he’d received boxing lessons and regulation gloves, which he tried out on the next kid who cracked wise. After that they called him Mike.