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Happy Holidays Is Fine With Me

We live in a multicultural society — let’s celebrate diversity

Shefali O'Hara
2 min readDec 24, 2022
Photo by Hillshire Farm on Unsplash

I am a Christian, and I celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus Christ. But, obviously, not everyone does.

We live in a multicultural society, and that is a great thing.

As a kid, I celebrated Passover with Jewish friends. I’ve gone to Eid celebrations with Muslim friends and Diwali celebrations with Hindus. When I went to MIT, we had a “nondenominational holiday shrub” instead of a Christmas tree.

Also at MIT, when I was there, we did an annual sing-a-long for the Messiah. A friend of mine who was an atheist but who loved classical music participated.

When I lived in Wichita Falls, which is a town in Texas where “everyone” goes to church — I knew there were also many agnostics, atheists, and people of different faiths even there. And the annual Christmas display at Midwestern University provides space for anyone, including atheists, to add to the display.

I have a Jewish friend who always has a Christmas tree and a Muslim friend who has taken her children to local events for kids. My Hindu parents bought us small gifts at Christmas time. I have black friends who celebrate both Christmas and Kwanzaa.

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Shefali O'Hara
Shefali O'Hara

Written by Shefali O'Hara

Cancer survivor, Christian, writer, engineer. BSEE from MIT, MSEE, and MA in history. Love nature, animals, books, art, and interesting discussions.

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