here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n(No, this isn’t an elaborate excuse for not posting the seasonal story by Christmas Day. Not at all. Nuh-uh.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is one that’s been crawling around my skull for years, based on an actual house we once saw as we were driving out to my in-laws for Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hope you enjoy it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m an old-fashioned guy when it comes to the holidays – the first day of Christmas is on the 26th, and the twelfth day gets us to Epiphany on January 6th. So, it being the first day of Christmas, I have a little gift for you: a new holiday story you can download for free…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[34,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-short-fiction"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2rDfa-iu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":688,"url":"https:\/\/www.jcmckenna.com\/?p=688","url_meta":{"origin":1146,"position":0},"title":"Random Stories","author":"admin","date":"January 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Rory's Story Cubes Several years ago, my wife gifted me these lovely story dice in my Christmas stocking. For a visual thinker like me, they're great tools for busting through writer's block and story ruts. This year, after a pandemic-induced creativity slump in high gear for far too many months,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.jcmckenna.com\/?cat=34"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/story-cubes-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/story-cubes-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/story-cubes-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/story-cubes-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":934,"url":"https:\/\/www.jcmckenna.com\/?p=934","url_meta":{"origin":1146,"position":1},"title":"Monday Random Story Roll","author":"admin","date":"March 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"earth, arrow, padlock Time for another roll of the story dice. Lots to play with this week. Back Satruday(ish) with a new story.","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.jcmckenna.com\/?cat=34"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cube-1655118_640.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cube-1655118_640.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cube-1655118_640.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":890,"url":"https:\/\/www.jcmckenna.com\/?p=890","url_meta":{"origin":1146,"position":2},"title":"Monday Random Story Roll","author":"admin","date":"March 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"magnifying glass, fish, eye . . . aaaaand we're back. New week, new roll of the story dice. Check back in on Saturday (3\/6) for a brand new short short story.","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.jcmckenna.com\/?cat=34"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cube-1655118_640.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cube-1655118_640.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cube-1655118_640.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1177,"url":"https:\/\/www.jcmckenna.com\/?p=1177","url_meta":{"origin":1146,"position":3},"title":"Random Story Roll","author":"admin","date":"February 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Somehow a year went by since my last random story. Let's give the dice a roll and see what they have to offer. cell phone, magic wand, ID? (envelope?) OOOOH, ambiguity. What's that one on the right? Guess I'll have to sit in the mystery for a bit. New short,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.jcmckenna.com\/?cat=34"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cube-1655118_640.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cube-1655118_640.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jcmckenna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cube-1655118_640.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1223,"url":"https:\/\/www.jcmckenna.com\/?p=1223","url_meta":{"origin":1146,"position":4},"title":"Surprise Holiday Story! The Gifts of the Magus","author":"admin","date":"December 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"What's that? You want a holiday themed story starring Baron Saturday? Well lookie what Santa just dropped down your chimney! Download The Gifts of the Magus here. The story is free, but if you're feeling generous, please consider making an end of year donation to the Parkinson Voice Project. 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