Congratulations to M P G for her winning shot titled “snow & thorns” in last week’s Christmas Outside contest. When we looked at this shot, we all sighed and said, “Gorgeous.” And although there is nothing overtly Christmas about it, the subtlety of the holidays is most definitely there. We absolutely love the contrast of the red berries, green leaves and white snow. The thorny branch even makes the delicate berries look that much more beautiful. Great job, M P G. Thanks for braving the cold for this beautiful shot!

We also wanted to recognize our runner-up this week. Congrats to anto-XIII for his lovely shot, “‘Notre Dame’ Christmas Explosion.” The zoom effect on this is outstanding.

Thanks to all of you who bundled up against the winter cold for the sake of this contest (and the rest of December’s holiday-themed contests). We were impressed all month long with your entries. They truly helped make our holidays merry and bright. We hope yours were, too. Thank you for joining us for many months of successful contests in 2008. We are lucky to have such a talented and enthusiastic group of readers!