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Muslims celebrate Christmas

And Christians celebrate Eid… and Diwali

Shefali O'Hara
2 min readDec 20, 2019
Photo by Deddy Yoga Pratama on Unsplash

One of my students is a Muslim. This week, her mom came to pick her up. Mom brought the family dog into the classroom. It was a well behaved pup. I pet him and she set him down to wander a bit while we talked.

She told me how much her daughter enjoyed my class and I told her how much I liked having her as a student.

“She’s really helpful to the other kids,” I said. “But she is also independent.”

“Well, she loves your class. She always talks about how much fun she has.”

I mentioned I wouldn’t be teaching the following week as it’s Christmas Eve and I will be at church instead. She asked, “Are you a Christian?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Well, I think you know we are Muslims,” she said, with a smile.

“Yes, your husband mentioned that,” I said.

“But we celebrate Christmas,” my student chimed in.

“At least part way,” her mother said. “We don’t have a tree, but we hang some lights and give presents.”

“I understand,” I laughed. “I do the same with Eid.”

Muslims celebrate Eid at the end of Ramadan. It’s a great party.

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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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