Hey readers, happy belated new year!! I hope you guys have had an amazing holiday season with the people you love.
Right now it's about 9:48 pm on Thursday the 11th in my family's apartment in New Cairo. Josh and I fly out tomorrow night to head back to New Zealand. I can’t believe that our time in Egypt is almost over. It seems like just yesterday that we got to the Auckland airport to head to the UK. This was my second Christmas that I got to spend with Josh and his family in Birmingham, and it was truly magical. As a Muslim kid who was taught that celebrating Jesus’s birthday was haram (a sin)...I had no idea how much I was missing out on. I mean I've watched plenty of Christmas movies growing up, but I figured all those feel-good fuzzy moments was just fake Hollywood shit, not real life. But now that I've experienced the real deal in person, I’m starting to get what all the craze is about.
To me, religion has kind of become optional when it comes to Christmas. With all the historical discoveries of Jesus’s birthday probably not even being on December 25th, and the fact that it was originally a pagan holiday, has removed my guilt for celebrating it years ago. I mean obviously for most, religion is still central to Christmas and I'm not knocking that. But for a lot of people out there, it's become more about the traditions. But no matter what your religious stance is on the holiday, Christmas really is like those cheesy Holywood movies out there will tell you. It’s all about spending quality time with the people you love. And it was definitely Josh’s family that made this holiday so meaningful to me. They’ve done everything they could to make me feel at home and part of the family instead of a guest, and I could never express into words how much I appreciate that and everything else they do for me. Karen, Elaine, Amy and Chris - I love you guys so much and I hope to see you again next Christmas (if not sooner).
