"When I was eight years old, I was living in Dubai and desperate to experience a western Christmas. My family are Muslim, and Christmas was something we'd never celebrated but after consuming countless festive Hallmark movies, I was hooked on the dream of having turkey, tinsel and, most importantly, presents. I also had an enormous crush on Macaulay Culkin, and thought if I could experience Christmas for myself it would somehow bring me closer to him."
"My beautiful Iraqi-Egyptian mother took on the task with gumption, finding the largest, tackiest tree you can imagine. In the weeks preceding Christmas Day, I watched the tree take on more and more ornaments, each more shiny and outrageous than the last. My mother was, and still is, the most glamorous woman I know; going to shopping malls with her was heaven, as she would delight shop assistants by catwalking in various ensembles."
When I was eight, I lived in Dubai and longed to experience a Western Christmas after watching Hallmark movies. My Muslim family had never celebrated Christmas, but my twin brother and I persuaded our parents to try. My Iraqi-Egyptian mother found a massive, tacky tree and adorned it with increasingly shiny, outrageous ornaments like her glamorous ensembles. She created a towering, pristinely wrapped pile of gifts and forbade any touching. Each day after school I stared at the display, brimming with longing. On Christmas morning I woke at 5am and tore into the presents, finding an empty tissue box as the first gift, leaving me utterly confused.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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