{"id":4904,"date":"2025-12-30T07:10:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T06:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4904"},"modified":"2025-12-30T07:24:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T06:24:40","slug":"week-52-christmas-in-alicante","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4904","title":{"rendered":"Week 52: Christmas in Alicante"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The last full week of 2025 was of course about the Christmas celebrations. The holiday has no religious significance for us (my wife is nominally Catholic but she only sets foot in a church for occasions like weddings or funerals), but we celebrate it as a family event. In Spain, Christmas is mainly about eating and drinking, since the main gift giving happens on Three Kings’ Day, but we follow the Anglo-Saxon tradition and exchange presents on Christmas morning. I have arranged the photos chronologically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_1<\/strong>
The morning of December 21st, the winter solstice. As I always do, I went to the beach to watch the sunrise of the shortest day of the year:
\"DSF2996\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_2<\/strong>
\"DSF2998\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_3<\/strong>
A seagull, illuminated by the rising sun:
\"DSF3003\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_4<\/strong>
Backlit playing:
\"DSF3008\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_5<\/strong>
On Tuesday, I stopped in the centre on my way home from work on the last working day of 2025. I visited the 80Mundos bookshop and said hello to the guard dog:
\"DSF3016\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_6<\/strong>
An amusing sign:
\"DSF3015\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_7<\/strong>
Wednesday morning, as usual, I walked to the beach with Mochi:
\"DSF3020\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_8<\/strong>
Sea and sand:
\"DSF3018\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_9<\/strong>
Christmas morning began with another Mochi walk before dawn. We were monitored:
\"DSF3024\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_10<\/strong>
Then it was time for the gift exchange. We were four this year–my wife, my daughter, Mochi and me. My wife posed with Mochi:
\"DSF3027\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_11<\/strong>
Monica with her baby:
\"DSF3030\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_12<\/strong>
Mochi approaching one of his many presents:
\"DSF3034\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_13<\/strong>
Monica opening a box containing one of her presents:
\"DSF3039\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_14<\/strong>
Inside the box were 1000 Mochi Coins, a new cryptocurrency I have created, exchangable for Euros at par:
\"DSF3041\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_15<\/strong>
Mochi got many new toys:
\"DSF3045\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_16<\/strong>
After the gift exchange, we took the official 2025 Christmas portrait of the family. Sadly, my son and his wife are absent this year:
\"DSF3052\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_17<\/strong>
Later in the day, we went to Eliot and Assumpta’s for lunch:
\"DSF3056\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_18<\/strong>
The first appetiser, ravioli in a pesto sauce, prepared by Assumpta’s son Alberto who works as a restaurant chef:
\"DSF3058\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_19<\/strong>
Alberto serving his mother the second appetiser:
\"DSF3059\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_20<\/strong>
The second appetiser, a seafood gratin:
\"DSF3060\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_21<\/strong>
The main dish was an incredibly tender leg of lamb:
\"DSF3061\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_22<\/strong>
We relaxed a bit after lunch. Eliot plays with his dog Balu, while our Mochi looks on in the background:
\"DSF3064\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_23<\/strong>
Boxing Day started with a walk with Mochi and a meeting with one of the local cats:
\"1050204\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_24<\/strong>
A bike ride followed after breakfast. On the way back, I stopped at the fishing harbour in El Campello. All the boats were in port:
\"1050213\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_25<\/strong>
A woman sat on a rock on the beach adjacent to the harbour, contemplating the sea:
\"1050208\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_26<\/strong>
On Saturday morning, I went for my walk earlier than usual, well before sunrise:
\"DSF3065\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_27<\/strong>
Later, I cycled to Busot. The sky over the mountains was threatening:
\"1050221\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_28<\/strong>
Like most other towns and villages, Busot has a centrally placed nativity display:
\"1050216\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_29<\/strong>
I do not find Busot’s nativity scene particularly impressive. I think it looks like something bought from Temu:
\"1050215\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_30<\/strong>
At lunchtime, I saw this guy on my street, returning from a paddleboarding session. I wonder how he would have coped with side wind, but fortunately for him the weather was calm:
\"DSF3069\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_31<\/strong>
In late afternoon, I drove to the centre to have a look at Alicante during the Christmas shopping frenzy. In Spain, presents are mainly exchanged on Three Kings’ Day, January 6th, so the week between Christmas and New Year is the height of the shopping season. All the large parking garages were full, as is the case here, on Avenida de la Estaci\u00f3n:
\"DSF3070\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_32<\/strong>
I found a car park with spaces and walked around a bit. After dark, the big street looked impressive:
\"DSF3073\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_33<\/strong>
I wanted to see the decorations in the garden of the seat of the provincial government:
\"DSF3077\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_34<\/strong>
Lots of people were milling around, and lots of pictures were taken:
\"DSF3080\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_35<\/strong>
This is one of the most impressive decorations, although the connection to Christmas is unclear:
\"DSF3085\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

52_36<\/strong>
On the way out, I saw this delightful scene, a family of three making a selfie:
\"DSF3088\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last full week of 2025 was of course about the Christmas celebrations. The holiday has no religious significance for us (my wife is nominally Catholic but she only sets foot in a church for occasions like weddings or funerals), but we celebrate it as a family event. In Spain, Christmas is mainly about eating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4543,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4904"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4904"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4913,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4904\/revisions\/4913"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}