By Marie Walker
Leetonia, Ohio
Honorable mention
Tears flowed from my eyes while I hung the little red and white stuffed elf. It was Carol’s favorite Christmas ornament.
My 18-year-old daughter had joined the military service. It would be the first Christmas without her.
Carol’s letters arrived from the boot camp and I understood that decorations were not allowed in […]

By Sharon Sweda
Huron, Ohio
Honorable Mention
“Doggone it!”
Janet hears Henry’s familiar bellow. She knows, without looking or hearing the stomp of his boots, that in an instant, he and his flannel jacket will race out the door of their 1940’s bungalow. She also knows where he is going.
It is five days before Christmas in the Kraemer […]

By Jennifer Bryan
Paris, Ohio
Honorable Mention
The frosty morning air stung my nose as I stepped out the door of our farmhouse. My parents’ boot prints in the fresh snow marked their earlier trek to the barn. I could hear the drone of the milk pump and the calves bawling for their breakfast.
Cows don’t know when […]

By M. Merlin Acker
Wooster, Ohio
Honorable Mention
Farmer Jim awoke early one bright spring morning, traveling to the steep eastern slope on his farm overlooking a small village. One by one he placed small pine trees in the soil. As the saplings embraced the sunlight and inhaled a few breaths of the crisp air, two trees began […]

By Chet Cornman
Freeport, Pa.
Third place
The floorboard creaked and Amy froze. Someone was out there all right. Carefully, oh so carefully, she extended her neck and peeked around the corner.
A man, a large man, was sitting with his back to her, rooting under the tree. She held her breath, but was sure he’d hear her […]

By Michelle Starkey
Mechanicsburg, Ohio
Second place
The weather had turned cold and dreary with rain clouds hovering over the small town of Mechanicsburg when Jim Samuels decided to stop at the local feed store to pick up supplies for his dairy farm.
“Let’s see,” he told Bob, the store manager. “I need oil, boots, dog food, three bags […]

By Kim Villalva
Millington, Tenn.
First place
The phone call shocked Vernon Lee. He had won first place in the library’s Children’s Christmas Story Contest.
He shifted carefully in his chair so as not to wake the sleeping feline warming his lap.
“You happy up there, Genevieve? Honey, now I gotta read that silly story of mine to […]

By Abbey Benninghoff
Bessemer, Pa.
Age 17
Honorable mention
Up at dawn, doing chores at six years of age may sound crazy, but for Grace, she thrived on that repetition. Now with the new baby in the family, her father needed the help in the barn.
The first white blanket of snow had fallen, unexpectedly, and it was […]

By Anna Perkins
Westfield Township, Ohio
Age 16
Winner
Family. A Christmas tree. Singing carols on a neighbor’s doorstep. Watching her children’s delight at receiving the special gifts she had made for them. Bob’s present for her. His love.
Shirley blinked away tears as these thoughts crossed her mind, the thoughts of what Christmas used to mean to her. […]

By Jaclyn Krymowski
Hinckley, Ohio
Age 12
Honorable Mention
Sarah watched the winter snow fall fast, thick and heavy. This would be the loneliest Christmas ever. For it was Christmas Eve and all of Hickory Town was expecting a railroad to cut through it, bringing food, people and supplies. But it had passed them right up.
Sarah hoped that […]