Article: Wistful writers saw tearful themes in artist's holiday painting.(Arts & Literature)

Byline: BOB KEEFER The Register-Guard

"In our family people always die in December," Aunt Birdie told Gramma.

"Will Santa Claus die?" I asked.

That's a typically upbeat passage from one of dozens of stories of heartbreak, loss and last-minute reconciliation that cheery Register-Guard readers entered in this year's Christmas fiction contest.

Forget decking the halls and bowls full of jelly. In Krista Larsen's "The Best Christmas," an adoptee finds her long-lost brother.

In Elmina Peterson's "A Brand-New Year," father and homeless son are reunited under a highway bridge.

Nine-year-old Jeffrey Bayes of Eugene titled ...

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