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12 days of Stories
Kevin Wilson's 12 Days of Stories
Note: This is the standard edition, for the numbered edition see here.
Hear ye! Contained within are a dozen outstanding short stories, as selected by author and short-fiction savant Kevin Wilson. Whether you savour them one day at a time as a countdown to Christmas, or devour them all in one sitting like a too-tempting box of chocolates, this is the perfect way for bibliophiles to ring in the holiday season.
Hear ye! Contained within are a dozen outstanding short stories, as selected by author and short-fiction savant Kevin Wilson. Whether you savour them one day at a time as a countdown to Christmas, or devour them all in one sitting like a too-tempting box of chocolates, this is the perfect way for bibliophiles to ring in the holiday season.
- GenresShort Stories
196 pages, Chapbooks in slipcase
Published November 1, 2025
4 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Wilson
257 books46 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 24, 2025
H & O comes through again with another strong collection of short stories, this time curated and edited by author Kevin Wilson.
Trimmed from the usual 25 down to ‘the 12 stories of Christmas’, this year’s collection mixes poignant tales of family and stilted connections with some humorous tales and more than a few that stay with the reader, mixing images and ideas that the text plants like seeds in the reader’s mind for future blooming.
Trimmed from the usual 25 down to ‘the 12 stories of Christmas’, this year’s collection mixes poignant tales of family and stilted connections with some humorous tales and more than a few that stay with the reader, mixing images and ideas that the text plants like seeds in the reader’s mind for future blooming.
January 1, 2026
This is the first year in 10 years without the Hingston and Olsen Short Story Advent Calendar. Instead, this year they have a new product in the form of a guest edited 12 days of stories. Wilson's approach to this was to find 12 inflection points: 12 stories where their protagonist is undergoing a huge change.
It's a nice idea and it should work in principle but overall I found that 12 stories isn't enough to have the kind of variety I've enjoyed with previous advent calendars. It's hard to curate the right balance of contemporary, classic, genre, literary, experimental, conventional, non-religious, and christmassy stories in 12 instead of 24 slots! And while Wilson is a fine editor, he didn't quite assemble the dazzling collection I've come to expect with Hingston's keen eye. All of the stories were good to very good but none really exceeded that.
However, on the design side Olsen's work never disappoints. The colors and font are timeless and inventive. I was also one of the lucky few to pick up one of Tori English's handpainted slipcases and it was worth the wait!
Perhaps I'm being an old grump, or perhaps after 10 years, I'm not getting as much out of this anymore and it's a good time to leave it be? If this is your first foray into Hingston and Olsen compendiums, it's not a bad place to start at all but be sure to check out the SSAC too.
The top 3 for 2025 were:
(1) How to milk a sheep by Stephanie Dennee
(2) The Old Ways by Silas House
(3) When you were here by Claire Lombardo
============================
Individual spoilery reviews:
============================
1. Two-man luge: a love story by Claire Battershill kicks things off this year with an immersive, first-person account of a young man who is rexaming his life. In his intro Wilson warned us that the collection would be looking at these pivotal moments in people's lives. Two-man luge is about a luger (I had to google it too) describing the intricacies of an usual sport as a metaphor for his own detachment but otherwise treads the same ground as other sports romances before it. The reluctant but pedantic athlete, achieving to suppress desire. Depsite achieving professional success the athlete comes to an inflection point: should he continue to do this thing he is good at but has no passion for or should he try something new? You can guess the rest.
I didn't hate this story but it didn't really do anything unexpected. I had the plot pegged from the first page. Cool to learn about a new sport I guess?
First line: “It wasn't the sport I would have chosen.” (2014), 20 pages. 3/5
2. Remedies by Kali Fajardo-Anstine is a sad look at the children of fuck-around fathers. A young latino girl remembers the short duration where she had a white half-brother, whom her mother occasionally pulled out for the weekend from his substance abuse mother's home. I really liked the way this one started by playing with the stereotypical homebrew mysticism and I wish it had kept up the recipe structure throughout, instead it sticks to a more traditional narrative. That being said the story left me thinking about the responsibility we have to children in our lives even if we didn't ask for it. The mother made the decision she had to short of adopting the boy outright. Was it right?
First line: “A dermatologist with a can of liquid nitrogen can remove a wart in 4-5 seconds.” (2019), 17 pages. 3/5
3. The Idler by Tyler Barton shows the theme of this collection of all the stories so far and is also currently in top spot. Blair was a creative with hopes and excitement who followed her older boyfriend East so he could write his thesis on the lack of God. But now it's overdue, their relationship has staled, and the cold winds have driven her to reflect on whether she wants to head back to California. And she'd like to tell her fiance all of this but for that stupid car that's been idling outside for the past couple of hours.. Good writing, well paced.
First line: “South Dakota stretches out like a cold, brown, made bed.” (2020), 17 pages. 4/5
4. Storm Windows by Charles Haverty was an incredibly depressing story about a man and his aging parents near their end of life. One of the things that confused me about this story was the opening scene. Why are they so cruel to the kids? I read the story through a couple of times and couldn't figure it out so ended up rating it down.
First line: “By 7:30 my father hadn't come home, so we sat down to dinner without him.” (2015), 23 pages. 2/5
5. Protection by Paula Peroni is very well titled. In it we follow a young woman on her grandmother's death bed as they ruminate about familial pills each have attempted to protect the other from. There's also some thoughts about who condescends to decide what will upset the elderly. The writing here is what really shines, both of italian's speech patterns and generational expectations shining through. That nonna will be missed!
First line: “Last year, Antonio Greco committed suicide after attempting to kill his wife with a hammer.” (2015), 12 pages. 3.5/5
6. How to milk a sheep by Stephanie Dennee is just that. A great little story about trying your best to figure out how to keep yourself afloat when way out of your depth. It's also great commentary on the comodofication of life in the countryside and the pressures on young people to project competence. Liked this one.
First line: “1. Buy a puppy.” (2024), 11 pages. 4/5
7. Beneath the Softness of Snow by Chanel Sutherland is an excerpt from up-and-coming novel Layaway Child. In this snippet we follow Juliette as she interviews to be a live-in nanny for a wealthy canadian couple in the dead of winter. Juliette, and her sister Paula, have both left their children back in the Caribbean St. Vincent whilst they make money abroad, but the trial is takin its toll on Juliette. Despite being so short this was a powerful insight into the sacrifices of motherhood. It's setting and themes also bring to mind recent Booker longlister Love Forms.
First line: “The room is filled with a foreign softness; it makes you uncomfortable.” (2025), 10 pages. 3/5
8. The Old Ways by Silas House is a perfect story for this time of year. Blue, his mother, and his mother's girlfriend go to the Kentucky hills to visit his grandmother for christmas. Here is a clashing of worlds: city and country, tradition and modern, to leave or to stay - all while making peanut brittle and filter coffee at the foot of the mountains. Despite being one of the longer stories in this collection this one just flew by.
First line: “Blue studies his grandmother's face while she stirs the boiling mixture of sugar and milk.” (2024), 19 pages. 4.5/5
9. The Rent-Controlled Ghost by Lee Conell . "So you think you got a ghost to be your servant?". This one is all about class and confronting the overplayed trope of someone's tragedy being the inspiration for someone else. It was a bit depressing, I'm not sure who it was for.
First line: “Big. rich, important men were waiting for the old lady in 4c to die.” (2017), 27 pages. 2.5/5
10. A Nativity Scene by Rion Amilcar Scott is a modern birth story, complete with 5 wise first-responders. I think this is a great short story, I can see that it draws attention to lots of important issues both within and outside of the family. But I didn't care for it. It's not you, it's me.
First line: “The day finds me already overwhelmed and it's not even dawn.” (2019), 8 pages. 2.5/5
11. When you were here by Claire Lombardo is about a family with a teen son who ran away 9 months ago. Inexplicably the son returns over Christmas night and replaces the carefully purchased gifts for each family member with things they already own. Is he doing this to steal for his own money? To make a point? This one was well written and caputured many things about family life well.
First line: “He wanted to explore the world.” (2015), 19 pages. 4/5
12. A very Mario Lopez Christmas by Meghan Giddings is a strange little tale about a woman who kidnaps Mario Lopez (the actor?) so he can fall in love with her on Christmas day. It's wonderfully silly and a great way to end the collection.
First line: “It's my Christmas to fall in love.” (2015), 11 pages. 4/5
It's a nice idea and it should work in principle but overall I found that 12 stories isn't enough to have the kind of variety I've enjoyed with previous advent calendars. It's hard to curate the right balance of contemporary, classic, genre, literary, experimental, conventional, non-religious, and christmassy stories in 12 instead of 24 slots! And while Wilson is a fine editor, he didn't quite assemble the dazzling collection I've come to expect with Hingston's keen eye. All of the stories were good to very good but none really exceeded that.
However, on the design side Olsen's work never disappoints. The colors and font are timeless and inventive. I was also one of the lucky few to pick up one of Tori English's handpainted slipcases and it was worth the wait!
Perhaps I'm being an old grump, or perhaps after 10 years, I'm not getting as much out of this anymore and it's a good time to leave it be? If this is your first foray into Hingston and Olsen compendiums, it's not a bad place to start at all but be sure to check out the SSAC too.
The top 3 for 2025 were:
(1) How to milk a sheep by Stephanie Dennee
(2) The Old Ways by Silas House
(3) When you were here by Claire Lombardo
============================
Individual spoilery reviews:
============================
1. Two-man luge: a love story by Claire Battershill kicks things off this year with an immersive, first-person account of a young man who is rexaming his life. In his intro Wilson warned us that the collection would be looking at these pivotal moments in people's lives. Two-man luge is about a luger (I had to google it too) describing the intricacies of an usual sport as a metaphor for his own detachment but otherwise treads the same ground as other sports romances before it. The reluctant but pedantic athlete, achieving to suppress desire. Depsite achieving professional success the athlete comes to an inflection point: should he continue to do this thing he is good at but has no passion for or should he try something new? You can guess the rest.
I didn't hate this story but it didn't really do anything unexpected. I had the plot pegged from the first page. Cool to learn about a new sport I guess?
First line: “It wasn't the sport I would have chosen.” (2014), 20 pages. 3/5
2. Remedies by Kali Fajardo-Anstine is a sad look at the children of fuck-around fathers. A young latino girl remembers the short duration where she had a white half-brother, whom her mother occasionally pulled out for the weekend from his substance abuse mother's home. I really liked the way this one started by playing with the stereotypical homebrew mysticism and I wish it had kept up the recipe structure throughout, instead it sticks to a more traditional narrative. That being said the story left me thinking about the responsibility we have to children in our lives even if we didn't ask for it. The mother made the decision she had to short of adopting the boy outright. Was it right?
First line: “A dermatologist with a can of liquid nitrogen can remove a wart in 4-5 seconds.” (2019), 17 pages. 3/5
3. The Idler by Tyler Barton shows the theme of this collection of all the stories so far and is also currently in top spot. Blair was a creative with hopes and excitement who followed her older boyfriend East so he could write his thesis on the lack of God. But now it's overdue, their relationship has staled, and the cold winds have driven her to reflect on whether she wants to head back to California. And she'd like to tell her fiance all of this but for that stupid car that's been idling outside for the past couple of hours.. Good writing, well paced.
First line: “South Dakota stretches out like a cold, brown, made bed.” (2020), 17 pages. 4/5
4. Storm Windows by Charles Haverty was an incredibly depressing story about a man and his aging parents near their end of life. One of the things that confused me about this story was the opening scene. Why are they so cruel to the kids? I read the story through a couple of times and couldn't figure it out so ended up rating it down.
First line: “By 7:30 my father hadn't come home, so we sat down to dinner without him.” (2015), 23 pages. 2/5
5. Protection by Paula Peroni is very well titled. In it we follow a young woman on her grandmother's death bed as they ruminate about familial pills each have attempted to protect the other from. There's also some thoughts about who condescends to decide what will upset the elderly. The writing here is what really shines, both of italian's speech patterns and generational expectations shining through. That nonna will be missed!
First line: “Last year, Antonio Greco committed suicide after attempting to kill his wife with a hammer.” (2015), 12 pages. 3.5/5
6. How to milk a sheep by Stephanie Dennee is just that. A great little story about trying your best to figure out how to keep yourself afloat when way out of your depth. It's also great commentary on the comodofication of life in the countryside and the pressures on young people to project competence. Liked this one.
First line: “1. Buy a puppy.” (2024), 11 pages. 4/5
7. Beneath the Softness of Snow by Chanel Sutherland is an excerpt from up-and-coming novel Layaway Child. In this snippet we follow Juliette as she interviews to be a live-in nanny for a wealthy canadian couple in the dead of winter. Juliette, and her sister Paula, have both left their children back in the Caribbean St. Vincent whilst they make money abroad, but the trial is takin its toll on Juliette. Despite being so short this was a powerful insight into the sacrifices of motherhood. It's setting and themes also bring to mind recent Booker longlister Love Forms.
First line: “The room is filled with a foreign softness; it makes you uncomfortable.” (2025), 10 pages. 3/5
8. The Old Ways by Silas House is a perfect story for this time of year. Blue, his mother, and his mother's girlfriend go to the Kentucky hills to visit his grandmother for christmas. Here is a clashing of worlds: city and country, tradition and modern, to leave or to stay - all while making peanut brittle and filter coffee at the foot of the mountains. Despite being one of the longer stories in this collection this one just flew by.
First line: “Blue studies his grandmother's face while she stirs the boiling mixture of sugar and milk.” (2024), 19 pages. 4.5/5
9. The Rent-Controlled Ghost by Lee Conell . "So you think you got a ghost to be your servant?". This one is all about class and confronting the overplayed trope of someone's tragedy being the inspiration for someone else. It was a bit depressing, I'm not sure who it was for.
First line: “Big. rich, important men were waiting for the old lady in 4c to die.” (2017), 27 pages. 2.5/5
10. A Nativity Scene by Rion Amilcar Scott is a modern birth story, complete with 5 wise first-responders. I think this is a great short story, I can see that it draws attention to lots of important issues both within and outside of the family. But I didn't care for it. It's not you, it's me.
First line: “The day finds me already overwhelmed and it's not even dawn.” (2019), 8 pages. 2.5/5
11. When you were here by Claire Lombardo is about a family with a teen son who ran away 9 months ago. Inexplicably the son returns over Christmas night and replaces the carefully purchased gifts for each family member with things they already own. Is he doing this to steal for his own money? To make a point? This one was well written and caputured many things about family life well.
First line: “He wanted to explore the world.” (2015), 19 pages. 4/5
12. A very Mario Lopez Christmas by Meghan Giddings is a strange little tale about a woman who kidnaps Mario Lopez (the actor?) so he can fall in love with her on Christmas day. It's wonderfully silly and a great way to end the collection.
First line: “It's my Christmas to fall in love.” (2015), 11 pages. 4/5
December 24, 2025
This month, a good friend gifted me Kevin Wilson’s 12 Days of Stories from the makers of the Short Story Calendar out of Canada. The beautiful box set features each story individually bound as a small booklet. The stories themselves aren’t written by Wilson, but selected by him for this unique collection.
Over the past twelve days, I read one story a day—none longer than 30 pages (most closer to 16). The topics varied widely, but every story was beautifully written, many by authors who were new to me. Knowing Wilson’s own human-centered, slightly quirky storytelling, I could absolutely see why these stories made the cut.
Here were some of my favorites, along with a standout line from each:
Storm Windows by Charles Haverty
“By 7:30 my father hadn’t come home, so we sat down to dinner without him.”
How to Milk a Sheep by Stephanie Dennee
“Pretend you know how to lasso a sheep. No. Instead, go back to the house and call your mom.”
This could honestly be my personal account of housesitting at a farmhouse.
The Old Ways by Silas House
“I don’t mean it in a bad way, honey. That’s just who you are. You hate it here until you’re gone and then you get homesick.”
This story is perfection—rich and comforting, like the peanut butter candy Grandma Alpha and Blue are making throughout.
A Nativity Scene by Rion Amilcar Scott
“When you require it, though, when there is no other option, the courage will be there to cut through the revulsion, the fear or any other barrier that would normally make us halt, even the feelings of diminishment and malaise that make the modern condition.”
A sparse, beautiful story, layered with imagery and quiet power.
When You Were Here by Claire Lombardo
“The night he left, she’d gone back into his room to continue their conversation and found it empty, a damp breeze coming through an open window.”
This one hurt my heart.
A Very Mario Lopez Christmas by Megan Giddings
Too many great lines to choose from. Hilarious, weird, and wonderful—and a perfect final note for the collection.
This collection reminded me how much can be done in a short story—and how powerful it is to sit with just one a day.
4.5 Stars
Over the past twelve days, I read one story a day—none longer than 30 pages (most closer to 16). The topics varied widely, but every story was beautifully written, many by authors who were new to me. Knowing Wilson’s own human-centered, slightly quirky storytelling, I could absolutely see why these stories made the cut.
Here were some of my favorites, along with a standout line from each:
Storm Windows by Charles Haverty
“By 7:30 my father hadn’t come home, so we sat down to dinner without him.”
How to Milk a Sheep by Stephanie Dennee
“Pretend you know how to lasso a sheep. No. Instead, go back to the house and call your mom.”
This could honestly be my personal account of housesitting at a farmhouse.
The Old Ways by Silas House
“I don’t mean it in a bad way, honey. That’s just who you are. You hate it here until you’re gone and then you get homesick.”
This story is perfection—rich and comforting, like the peanut butter candy Grandma Alpha and Blue are making throughout.
A Nativity Scene by Rion Amilcar Scott
“When you require it, though, when there is no other option, the courage will be there to cut through the revulsion, the fear or any other barrier that would normally make us halt, even the feelings of diminishment and malaise that make the modern condition.”
A sparse, beautiful story, layered with imagery and quiet power.
When You Were Here by Claire Lombardo
“The night he left, she’d gone back into his room to continue their conversation and found it empty, a damp breeze coming through an open window.”
This one hurt my heart.
A Very Mario Lopez Christmas by Megan Giddings
Too many great lines to choose from. Hilarious, weird, and wonderful—and a perfect final note for the collection.
This collection reminded me how much can be done in a short story—and how powerful it is to sit with just one a day.
4.5 Stars
January 1, 2026
I haven't read any of Kevin Wilson's writing -- he's the editor of this collection, not the author -- but these stories show his penchant for psychologically complex stories, at least in his reading, since I can't speak to his writing. (Even the story that's a parody of entertainment I don't consume was amusing.)
This collection takes the place of the Short Story Advent Calendar by the same publisher. A big thanks to my online SSAC friends for adapting the 12 Days -- and previously read SSAC stories -- into our daily Advent routine. We had some great discussions. None of the dates we read the stories matched the stories' numbers, so it all fit my time that seems of no time.
This collection takes the place of the Short Story Advent Calendar by the same publisher. A big thanks to my online SSAC friends for adapting the 12 Days -- and previously read SSAC stories -- into our daily Advent routine. We had some great discussions. None of the dates we read the stories matched the stories' numbers, so it all fit my time that seems of no time.
December 27, 2025
What a wonderful collection released by Hingston and Olsen this year! While I was disappointed that the short story advent calendar wasn’t the full 25 days this year, the 12 stories chosen by Kevin Wilson were wonderful, a great mix of intriguing, sweet, unique, and wondrous. I look forward to enjoying next year’s calendar, such a great concept!
January 3, 2026
While short stories are not my favorite thing this is the fourth year my son has gifted me an Advent calendar of stories. It's a fun departure from my usual choices and has become a delightful tradition 😁
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews