My favorite photo I have take this year is my favorite for deeply personal reasons. It is my mother, with a picture of my father, in front of the house they raised their family in.

Dad recently passed. And the house and property is being sold. It was our first Christmas without Dad and our last Christmas at the farm (what we all call mom and dad's property). Not only were my siblings and I raised there but my mom was raised there for part of her childhood as well. It's been in the family for a long time. Over 60 years of memories.

It used to be the country but it is surrounded by homes and businesses now. Mom has long wanted to move back out into the country, away from the busy suburbs that now engulf her. It just so happens that opportunity finally happened around the same time my Dad passed. Bittersweet, for mom more than any I am sure. Before he passed Dad had told mom to do whatever she can to get into the new property they had found. So, that is what we are doing.

We have been working over the holiday break to get decades of living packed up and ready for a move. Saying goodbye and revisiting memories as we do. The developer who is buying the place will bulldoze it down. I'll only be able to point to a parking lot when I tell my grandkids "that was where I grew up". It has been sad to say goodbye to the old place but we are thankful that our memories will travel with us and we look forward to making new memories at the new place. We are looking forward to this new chapter and we are looking forward to mom finally having a nice, modern home as opposed to an old farmhouse that has seen better days. Change is hard, but change is good. It helps us grow.

(Aminus3 Photography photography prompt, “2025 favorite”)