PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE
Spending the Holidays Without Unwrapping Gifts
Week 73 of the photographic documentary of my daily life
For most people, this was a very special week. But also a week of lots of stress, money spending, and wrapping gifts. Christmas. I have no connection to it. Not to the religious side of it and not to the commercialized side of it. I don’t do Christmas. I don’t do unnecessary gifting.
For me, it was just another week in the year. Yes, there was my birthday in it but I don’t celebrate that really. I just spent some time doing what I love the most. Swimming, paddling and chatting with my other half.
23rd of December. The day most people spent racing around buying last-minute presents for people they forgot about because they actually don’t like them and buy things the other side doesn’t actually need.
That day, I had more than enough time to just sit back on the grass, drink a beer or two and watch the sun set while some paramotor guy was taking off for a sunset flight.
The 24th of December is the day we celebrate Christmas in Germany. I forgot it was the 24th for most of the day. Together with my husband, we went to the city because we had to buy some things we needed for the upcoming holiday.
But the city wasn’t crazy. Not busy at all. It’s Thailand after all. No tourists around. We had no problems finding an empty beach chair to just put the feet in the sand and look out onto the ocean.
For some people the 25th is Christmas. For me, it was just another day at work.
This is the view from my office. Not too bad either, I know. I shouldn’t complain about another day at work.
Well, and today we packed up our things right after work and drove back to Koh Samet. The island I was on just a few weeks ago. And the same island we’ve spent time on in 2019 and 2020 already.
It’s my birthday. This is what I woke up to. I know, I’m spoiled. And that without any gifts. Nature is spoiling me. And my husband. Because he took me to this island for my birthday.
We did lots of fun stuff. After watching the sun rise, we went for a paddle, went swimming, played frisbee, went snorkeling in the ocean, and obviously had in between lots of delicious meals.
I cannot complain. And I’m happy about not having wasted any wrapping papers on silly and unnecessary presents. This was the best present ever. Making memories. I don’t need anything else.
Today didn’t fully go as planned. We drove to the other side of the island to a secret snorkeling spot. When I went into the water the second time, I slipped and fell. I cut open my hand and we decided to let it get checked in the hospital.
Half an hour and five stitches later I was on a tropical island but wasn’t allowed to do any of the fun stuff anymore. No water for me, the nurse said. But hey, that won’t ruin my day. I’ve been paddling, swimming, and snorkeling already. So let’s just keep it a bit slow for the rest of the day.
And since I wasn’t allowed to get my hand in the water anymore I used the time while my husband was swimming and sat in the hammock reading through Medium stories I had saved up in my reading list.
In the back, you can see our bungalow overlooking the bay. A few hours later it was time to check out and head back home again.
This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett was the one starting this photography challenge in summer 2020 and many have participated ever since.
Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny
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