A New, Same Old Christmas

It's gonna be Christmas in 2 days time!

When I was a Catholic, I really felt the spirit of Christmas from the 4 Advent masses leading up to the day itself. Not to mention the annual get-together with all my relatives and the present-giving, the midnight/dawn mass on Christmas itself, and when I was a kid, decorating the tree and seeing my Christmas stockings magically filled (My ingenious mother had this idea of filling up the stockings bit by bit because I kept waking up at intermittent intervals to check my stockings, so seeing them 1/4 filled, then 1/2 filled, and then totally filled was totally incomprehensibly fascinating and santa-like to my young, innocent mind.)

And frankly this year I found myself asking incredulously a week back, it's Christmas next week??

Well apart from not going to church, nothing else will change, and celebrating Christmas this year will be a little different: I celebrate Allah/God who has sent one of the greatest prophets to spread His message and guide people to the right path.

All the more now I feel close to the season of Christmas. After all, my convert name is Meryem, named after Mary (Isa's/Jesus's mother). This is the link that will always remind me of how closely linked Islam and Catholicism is, that the name is just but a label, the rest is by acknowledging your beliefs.

So, have a Merry Christmas everybody! *puts on a santa hat*