Mini-Challenge 238: Holiday Spirit

sarasphotos

Since it’s December, I’d like to make this challenge season-appropriate. The entries should reflect the spirit of this time of year, however you see it. Naturally the entries are not limited to the celebration of Christmas – representations of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any other sacred or secular season-appropriate (Dec.-Jan.) celebration are invited. Feel free to include pictures of public events or private celebrations (food pictures welcome!!!), whatever each would like to share. It would also be lovely to have a short description/caption to go with each picture.

This Mini-Challenge will end on Sunday, December 18 at 8am Pacific Standard Time (17:00 Central European Time).

OUR UN-OFFICIAL GENERAL RULES

1. Have fun sharing and seeing what others share!
2. The host supplies a topic and you post 1-3 images. The host judges the winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and is not eligible to enter.
3. The 1st place winner then chooses the next topic, judges the winner and then passes on the baton to the new champion.
4. Any photo you’ve taken is eligible, regardless of when taken or camera used.
5. Any amount of post-processing is allowed. However, it is helpful if you list your camera and lens along with your photo.
6. You may comment on other contestant's images. If you want someone to leave you some critique or criticism, just ask within your post.
7. The winner has up to three days (72 hours) to begin a new mini-challenge, or the honor goes to the #2 finisher and so forth.

Guidelines:

1. Enter 1-3 photos and put them in a single post.
2. Either embed your image in the thread or, if you must, supply a link to it. Keep in mind, however, most people don't want to click to open photos hosted elsewhere (i.e. on your website).
3. Also try and resize your photos prior to posting so they're sized appropriately for viewing without having to scroll (~800 pixels on the longest side works best.)
4. Give each image you enter a title.
5. Enjoy discussion with members about their images, don't let this just be an entry thread!
6. When quoting a post change the IMG urls to a 200x200 size picture so it is clear your post is feedback and not another entry. (see here for help)
7. Don't be hesitant, share'em and enter!

Mini-Challenge pointers:

1. Upon winning a mini-challenge round your first step is coming up with a new theme, and start a new thread using the same format as others have used.
2. Make sure to notify the admin of this thread to update the main thread links with your entry thread.
3. Feel free to watch the thread as it grows or wait to the end time and look at all the entries all at once.
4. After the time/date has passed, then officially close the thread with a single post notifying everyone of the fact.
5. After you're finished judging start a new thread (again use the prior formats) and post your Winner and runners-up, it is important to have runners up incase the winner does not show within the 72hr window.
6. PM the winner with this info above and let them know they have 72hrs.
7. After the 72hrs and the winner does not show up, notify the next runner-up and post a message on the Winner thread of the fact.
8. Remember, if you're the Winner, you run the show.

Here are some examples (which, since I live in Bavaria all are Christmas-themed):

Lighting the sparklers on the tree - Christmas Eve in Tirol.


Augsburg on a foggy December evening.


Augsburg Christmas Market with the town hall in the background.


Decorations for sale at at one of Munich's Christmas markets:



The church nearest my apartment all dolled up for Christmas:

BMW Kurt

I'm getting some entries ready! I was surprised to see the Augsburg shots. I lived there for two years and loved it. Wonderful Christkindlmarkt!

Edit: I just noticed you live in Augsburg.

grandmaR

Here are my entries

1. Holiday table


This is the dining room in Maison Olivier at Longfellow Evangeline State Park in St. Martinville Louisiana

2. Toy Soldiers


The Christmas decorations at a bank in Miami

And from the past
3. Sledding



My children in 1967 being pulled on my old sleds by my husband. We lived in Florida then - they didn't see much snow -and were visiting my parents in Baltimore.

And one from even farther in the past which is not my photo and therefore not for judging - my father's photo of our Christmas tree in 1948. We had the bubble lights - the long thin lights that when they heated up, the liquid in them would bubble. I'm on the right side in the picture and my sister is on the left.

sarasphotos

@ GrandmaR: thanks for being the first to enter. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

@ Kurt: I'm glad to hear you have good memories of Augsburg - I've lived here for going on 19 years and am very fond of my adopted home. Looking forward to your entries as well.

travelways

Wonderful subject, Sara!

Also wonderful exemples and entries so far

sarasphotos

I'm glad you like the theme Tatiana - can't wait to see your pictures!

travelways

sarasphotos wrote: »

I'm glad you like the theme Tatiana - can't wait to see your pictures!

I'll try to equal yours

JAG

This is a great theme. I hope to see loads of images.

pegelli

1: The holy mother and her baby

2: Everybody relaxed during the holidays

3: Christmas cake

sarasphotos

Hi Pieter, thanks for the entries! Judging is going to be fun.

pegelli

@sarasphotos said:
Hi Pieter, thanks for the entries! Judging is going to be fun.

I hope so too, looking forward to more entries. It's a subject that everybody will have some photo's for I would think.

BMW Kurt

We use real candles on our Christmas tree. (Please don't tell my insurance company!)

Our Weihnachtspyramide.

The Frau choosing that perfect tree.

Not an entry. But Sara might appreciate this shot.

sapphire73

Great challenge, Sara! We have been doing a lot of traveling lately but I am hoping to contribute some photos a little later.

sarasphotos

Hey Kurt, thanks for sharing your memories. This is fun!

sarasphotos

@sapphire73 said:
Great challenge, Sara! We have been doing a lot of traveling lately but I am hoping to contribute some photos a little later.

Looking forward to your entries, Gretchen!

sarasphotos

@BMW Kurt said:

Not an entry. But Sara might appreciate this shot.

I love it!

grandmaR

So nice to see this picture
Can you keep this running without scorching the blades? If you looked at ours, you'd see that we cannot.

(and it only took me six tries to figure out how to put the picture in the comment. I'm sorry but I just can't muster up the energy to quote)

BMW Kurt

@grandmaR said:

So nice to see this picture
Can you keep this running without scorching the blades? If you looked at ours, you'd see that we cannot.

(and it only took me six tries to figure out how to put the picture in the comment. I'm sorry but I just can't muster up the energy to quote)

Yes, this one is quite old and sometimes sticks. We put one drop of vegetable oil on the base and that seems to fix it. Also the angle of the blades needs a little adjustment now and then. This one was made in the Erzgebirge when it was still part of the DDR. It was a gift from my wife's aunt that lived there during that time.

Earache

Merry Christmas Sara! Grinners too!
All of these images are from San Diego's jewel of a city park - Balboa Park.

Each year, a large and colorful display of Poinsettias - a traditional holiday favorite here - are installed in the Botanical Building...
I love the colors, which range from the familiar deep red, to almost pure white and many shades in-between.

Author Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss (Cat in the Hat etc.), was a favorite son and long-time resident of San Diego.
For over 30 years, his story of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' has been staged in the Old Globe Theater, with fun decorations on the outside of the theater.

I thought these Christmas lights in the Park needed a little kick !!

Not an entry... just wanted to show the range of colors of the Poinsettias!

sarasphotos

Thanks for entering, Eric!

travelways

Here are my entries:

1. Winter wonderland at Bellagio, Las Vegas

2. Christmas Day at the church in Collingwood, Ontario

4. Winter holidays decorations on the Canadian Parliament building in Ottawa

sarasphotos

Uh-oh, I can see that the judging is getting more and more difficult!

Glad to see you entered, Tatiana!

travelways

Thank you Sara, it was a matter of selecting them...

sapphire73

We've had a lot of illness here so I wasn't able to get out to take some fresh photos. But here a few older photos - just for fun. Two from Bruges and one from Charleston. Wish I had a tripod when I was in Bruges!

(1) Glimpse of the Christmas Market in Bruges, Belgium (late Nov. 2015)

(2) As Night Falls in Bruges (late Nov. 2015)

(3) Christmas Tree of Holiday Lights in Charleston, South Carolina, USA (standing inside the tree and looking up)

sarasphotos

Thanks all for the great entries - the challenge is now closed. Results will be posted tomorrow.