All I Want For Christmas Is UFO

 When I was little, we used to stay at my friend Amanda's for Christmas. One year, when I was maybe six or seven, I heard a big THUNK on the roof.

I wasn't even close to being asleep, no one else heard it, and if it was one of her parents or aunts and uncles trying to get us kids to believe it was Santa, they would not have been so subtle. So I don't know what it was, but to this day I still swear I heard something.

Which brings me to my story, All I Want For Christmas Is UFO, available now in Humor Me’s Christmas issue!

It’s the story of a little girl who decides it’s up to her to remind an amnesiac Santa about the magic of Christmas. There’s just one problem: it’s not Santa, it’s an alien who’s come to destroy Earth.

I wrote this story… gosh, I don’t even know when. At least six years ago, before I ever had a story published. And I never submitted it anywhere in all those years.

I liked it. I just knew it wasn’t ready, something was off.

When I finally went to edit it this year, I realized that the story was good, but I didn’t have a great grasp on the humor I was trying to use. Now that I’m more comfortable writing in “my style” of humor, I was able to make the story really feel like I originally wanted:

An outrageously ridiculous concept written as if the main character is oblivious to the inanity, with sarcastic comments from the slightly Douglas-Adams-inspired narrator with an oddly heartwarming message.

So happy holidays or lack thereof, and I hope you enjoy.