Celebrating Christmas

Growing up in a Bahai family means many things, one of them being that I'd inevitably be having a conversation like this with my parents once a year:

Me: Muman, why can't we celebrate Christmas with everyone else?

Mum: Because Ingrid, we're not Christians. We're Baha'is.

Me: But Baha'is believe in Jesus too, right?

Mum: Well yes, but we also believe in Moses, Mohammad, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster... And Baha'u'llah! Imagine if we celebrated every single religious festival in the world! We'd be celebrating all the time.

Sorry Mum, but that was probably the wrong argument to give to a 6 year old Ingrid... Because frankly, that sounded AWESOME!

Imagine how much fun it would be to be CELEBRATING all the time..

And not even just out OWN beliefs and traditions, but those that other people believe in as well.

We'd all get to learn together! And dance together! And sing together!

What could possibly be wrong with that?

Now I have an interesting relationship with Christmas.

I don't for one second buy into the whole 'materialism' aspect of it.

Even as a child, it was never the presents I was after...

I've also always been very aware that a great deal of the hype and imagery has very little connection with Christian beliefs.

But I do remember having this deep-seated desire to be a part of something.

And as much as I understand Christmas has evolved into a culture of commercialism, I still believe there are certain aspects to the holiday that are very valuable.

For example, I love the idea of people sitting around with their families to enjoy a nice homemade dinner.

And for the first time this year, I had a Christmas tree!

Which means I finally got to live out my fantasy of sitting down with a friend before Christmas to watch some films, paint baubles and thread popcorn for the tree!

And although Christmas trees may have very little to do with the actual origins of Christmas, as far as random traditions go, I gotta say I'm a fan. :)

Because it's FUN!

We don't do enough things just because they're FUN anymore.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I think celebrating things is important.

And no matter what you believe, there seems to be something so incredibly beautiful about people coming together and sharing something that makes them happy.