Making Traditions

Friends and family vote on the anonymous photos to decide the winner. Last year, my leaf in the sky took the prize. It’s incredible how we ended up with such similar shots for the theme of “minimalism.”

Every year, my oldest brother and I engage in a family-friendly photo contest.

He lives hundreds of miles away in a different country — the incredibly foreign land of Canada. (Seriously, it’s shocking how different Canadians are to Americans.)

Our little annual photo contest keeps us connected in a really fun way. Last year our theme was minimalism. The photos above were the result. We’ve had a landscape theme, a theme to capture joy in a photograph, and more.

We choose a theme each year and make it our own. The loser hangs the winners photo in their house for the year. My brother has last year’s photo hanging in his kitchen and I have his photo of the Black Hills hanging in my dining room from the year before that.

It is one my favorite traditions we’ve made for our annual observance of the Feast of Tabernacles.

But I’m curious about everyone else’s family traditions. What do you do to stay connected to family far away?

If you’re looking for a new one, feel free to steal ours.

I would love to see the photos you take.

In October, though, if you see a vote for our photo contest, feel free to click, vote, and help continue our little piece of tradition.

Cheers,

Amber