It was December 18th and it was dark in the bunk when the buzzer sounded and woke her up. She rubbed her eyes, took a deep breath and turned on the light, when suddenly the voice of the commander was on the intercom: "Time to get up Doctor Taylor. We have reached our destination and will enter orbit in 3 hours. We'll be awaiting you in the cockpit in a half an hour for the atmospheric re-entry briefing." "We're here," it shot through her mind and she hastily opened the shutter to the window. "There she is: Mother Earth!" she whispered as the sunlight reflecting off the earth, illuminated her neon-lit bunk. "What a sight!" she thought to herself. "Look at that fragile, beautifully shining hull, called atmosphere. Life and Protection for everything down there, yet dangerous and deadly if we do not enter it in the correct angle". She had been in space for 3 years now, conducting experiments on this space station on behalf of her country and science. 3 years of isolation with the same 10 people every day. Her mission is over and now the time has come to finally be back with her loved ones at home and to meet them again for real, to hug them and to feel them and to smell them. Her heart leapt and deep joy filled her. She will be home again for Christmas. She looked around in her bunk and looked again at all the photos she had pinned to the bunk wall, which always gave her courage and lift, but sometimes also a bit of melancholy and homesickness. All the places and people that were dear to her and that she took with her into space, into the dark endlessness void. It was only a small selection, because she could not take much with her besides the scientific documents. When she looked at these photos, thousands of memories came up again. "Now it's that time again". She also looked at the photo of a large snow-covered Christmas tree that once stood decorated in the center of her town. She looked up where a small bonsai tree stood on a shelf, to which she always at Christmastime attached three ornaments, far too large for its little branches, to somehow have anything Christmas-like. She grinned and looked again at the photo of the snow-covered Christmas tree. Snow! She will see and feel snow again, run over fields and through forests and breathe real fresh air and no more jogging on the treadmill, breathing the same air reconditioned for the umpteenth time. She will hear the birds singing again and instead of the eternal humming of the computer fans, the sound of the wind in the forest will kiss her ears. Then the picture of Bonky, her Carthusian tomcat. Will he still recognize her? How much she was looking forward to hugging him again and finally being able to bury her face in his thick fur, smell the scent of his fur and feel the vibration of his body when he purred. Just above the intercom was a picture of her when she was little and her mom, in front of the Christmas tree in their living room. Yes, she will experience all this again, see all the friends and relatives, sit at the table with them and enjoy real food, attend real concerts, stroll through town and along the river. Though Grandpa will be missed dearly. He passed away, while she was in space. She couldn't hold his beloved hand, when he did his last breath in the hospital and she felt that pain again, when over the Video call, mom told her of his passing. How she would have liked to be there and caress his wrinkled face one last time and press a kiss on his forehead. It felt like she was finally allowed out of a long quarantine and back into freedom now. She looked at the pictures for a short while again and then rolled over to the open side on the edge of the bed and before getting up and ready, she turned her head once again to the window where the beauty and uniqueness of the earth shone towards her and with one last glance she said to herself: "I'm driving home for Christmas...!" It's Christmas again and again a year is passed and again it's a weird year, the kind you don't really wish to be in. A year in which words like: Covid-19, pandemic, isolation, standoff, mandatory masks, quarantine, but also mortality, case numbers and R-value was the dominant topic around the world. A year in which people went through hard times and lost dear friends and relatives, (sometimes even without the possibility to be near them in their last hour just because of the isolation they where in as a countermeasure to fight Covid-19), a year in which people slipped into loneliness, isolation and despair, even into depression. And it unfortunately is not over yet. In the coming year too, all this will keep us busy for a long time to come. But the whole thing can also hold an opportunity, the opportunity to get back to the essentials of life, to the things that really matter, things that money can't buy and that make life worth living. Sometimes in this special and difficult time I feel a bit like in a space station, locked up, far away from normal life. Everything is special and nothing is the way we were used to. And then I sometimes ask myself: "How long will our mission last and when will we be allowed back to earth, to the familiar and beloved life? When will distance and video conferences with loved ones come to an end and be replaced by real encounters and warm embraces and touches? When will we be able to give people a smile again, or be given a smile that is not covered by a sanitary mask?" It's this time where I realize, what really counts in life, where I start to value the simple proximity of friends, a heart felt hug, a talk, a compliment, a smile, the freedom of being able to walk where ever I want, the joy of going to a concert or making music my self with a bunch of good friends and so on... It's Christmas again and another weird Christmas, but one thing I'm sure of is that someday I'll return from my "space station" and then I'll be "driving home for Christmas again!" In this way, I thank you for your friendship and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a hopefully better New Year. Stay healthy! Credits: "Sci-Fi Bedroom" by Stonemason @ DAZ3D "Esme HD For Genesis 8 Female" by Colm Jackson @ DAZ3D "Classic Long Hair with dForce for Genesis 8 Female(s)" by Linday @ DAZ3D "Basic Wear for G8F" Part of the Genesis8 base and part of DAZ-Studio "Sci-Fi Pilot Outfit for Genesis 8 Female(s)" by Linday @ DAZ3D "Christmas Tree Ornaments" by Valandar @ DAZ3D (once a short time freebie) "WDJ's Christmas Memories" by ??? @ DAZ3D (Again once a freebie, but now not available anymore) The Bed sheet is a simple primitive "dforced", draped and wrinkled with a single dformer. Render is Pure IRAY-Render without Postwork except for the Logo Opening the Fullres view highly reccomended (the Original is 5000 Pixel wide) ;-) Thank you for peeking and thank you for all the lovely and helpful comments on my previous images.