What gives us cause to celebrate? Birthdays, anniversaries, travels, friendships and more. This week Patti encourages us to share celebrations from historical festivals, various travels, religious events and more.

I won’t say that we are not world travelers, but much of our visits to other countries were done when we were much younger and I wasn’t taking pictures. So I’m doing the twist again and celebrating family and friends.

Here’s a blast from the past when our children and their children helped us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We toasted this special milestone at the Spaghetti Factory, basically because that was the one place the kids could agree eating at!

This was taken 13 years ago, and we are now married 63 years. Oliva (in her dad’s arms) is now 15 and her brother Ryan (falling asleep on his cousin Madison) is now 17. My how time flies by! My older two grands are now in their 30s. Also in the picture from left to right: daughter-in-law Teresa, her husband Will; daughter-in-law Jessica and my son Greg; Richard and I; and grandson Christopher.

Birthdays are another cause for celebrations. We celebrated my son Jason’s 40th down in Southern California.

Regarding religious holidays, Passover was always one of our favorites. I’d make chicken soup and matzo balls. It being course number three of the celebratory meal. We had to move our living room furniture around to make room for the number of people gathered around our table.

Weddings are a reason to celebrate, especially when it’s your granddaughter getting married and you are playing the photographer. Madison and Ryan!

Last but not least are friendships. Here are 10 women whose friendship I hold dear. Sadly two of them have passed away, but I hold them close in my heart.

I celebrate my family and friends each day. When I turned 50, I remember my Mom saying, “I can’t believe my baby is turning 50!” Well, soon my baby will be turning 50! Another reason to celebrate!

Do you celebrate family and friends? Have you found special celebrations during your travels? I look forward to reading about all your causes to celebrate. When you post, please remember to link to my post and use the Lens-Artists tag. Thank you Patti for this wonderful challenge. Next week Egidio will be leading the challenge. In the meantime, stay safe and be resilient!

36 thoughts on “Lens Artists Challenge #407: Celebrations”

  1. What a great series of photos to celebrate family events. As we age, photos become the one constant in our past and present………..if we have cameras that is.

    Today, it’s phone cameras but I don’t have a smartphone myself.

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    1. Thanks Vicki! You are so right, photos become a visual of our history. I have a one lens smart phone, but a good camera. As I get older, the smart phone seems like a good idea.

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    1. Thanks Leanne! You’re just not as old as I am!! All my pictures of when the kids were young and their birthday celebrations, our travels, etc. are in photo albums, and I’m not willing to take them apart. Except for visiting you, I haven’t traveled much or experienced any celebrations. That’s why I twist a topic!

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  8. Family celebrations are the best, Anne! Even though I think of myself as “well-traveled”, It seems that I’m not often coinciding with local or regional celebrations of the kind I’ve seen in the responses, so far. I’ll be leaning on family celebrations, as well.

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  14. How sweet and wonderful to have these celebrations! I went to Brazil in June because I wanted to spend my birthday surrounded by family and old friends. Your photos are so full of life.

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