Be sure to scroll down to read "A Very Fine Christmas, Indeed," the first runner up in The Beach Coast Holiday Essay Contest!

Capture the Beauty of Winter on The Beach Coast

Calling All Beach Coast Photographers

If you have a love of nature and a digital camera, this contest is for you! Last year our Beach Coast Nature Photo contest was such a hit that we’ve decided to make it an annual event. Capture the beauty of winter on The Beach Coast and send us your favorite image (one entry per person, please) by January 15^th. We will post the first 50 photos we receive by January 23^rd and you will have the opportunity to vote for your favorite photo for the rest of January and all of February. 

The photo receiving the most votes will be published in our March issue and the person submitting the winning photo will also win a prize (2^nd and 3^rd place photos will also be published). You may vote for your favorite photo (even if it happens to be your own!) once a day and be sure to ask your family and friends to vote, too. Remember, it’s the photo with the most votes that wins, so rally the troops!

Submit your photo to:
info@thebeachcoast.com

Be sure to type "Photo Contest" in the subject line.

The Beach Coast Holiday Essay Contest —
The First Runner Up

By Ted Gillem

Fourteen-year old James pulled his coat closer around his thin body and peered around the corner of the building to see if anyone had spotted him. Just another day in the neighborhood and he was watching for the school bus. Not that he was getting on it because he had quit going to school last May. That was the week he got off the bus only to discover that his father had left and was not coming back and his mother had a rare incurable disease.The next day James left the house to meet the bus but never went to school. He hung out with the older kids that had either dropped out or graduated.

That had been in May and his mother never suspected him of skipping school because of drinking her problems away. She had passed away in July and after the funeral his aunt and uncle sat and discussed what to do with him. He excused himself to use the bathroom and left the house. He stayed with an older friend, who had dropped out of school, but the welcome mat only extended so far. 

James sighed as the bus pulled up to the stop across the park from his hiding place. He did not know what to do now. He had been living on the streets of the neighborhood all summer and into the fall. One more week until Christmas and he still had nowhere to go. He wondered if anyone knew that he had no home now. He wondered what it would be like to sit once again in a warm living room watching television and eat a snack.

“Boy! Hey boy! Over here.”  

James looked up to see old lady Springer leaning on a rake.   

“You want to make some money, boy? Money and some warm cookies when you are done raking my leaves.”    

James shrugged and took the rake from her. He started raking and after a short time had all the leaves in trash bags as she had instructed. James knocked on the door after finishing the job and Mrs. Springer invited him into her home. It smelled like he remembered his own home smelling when he was younger.  If only his father had not left and his mother had not died.

“Come in here, boy! In the dining room and sit at the table and talk to a lonely old woman while you eat.” 

“Now, I have been watching you walk around the neighborhood and I know your momma died last July. I also know the bank took the house so I suspect you’re living on the street. I have other chores that need tending and I have two extra bedrooms.  You pick one and then after Christmas, we will decide what to do.”

A lone tear rolled down his cheek and he could not believe that this had turned out to be the very finest Christmas, indeed!