Originally published in Flare.
My family didn’t celebrate Christmas. But I still remember wrapping an object I found in my parents’ bedroom with shoddy paper and re-gifting it to my mother when I was five years old. I wanted to celebrate so badly; I wanted to belong. As a Muslim, I know it may sound surprising at first to hear how deeply I love Christmas. But I’ve always felt there was something special about this time, and as someone who grew up outside these traditions, I know I’m not entirely alone in feeling this way. So I wanted to talk to women from across different faiths and ask them about their experiences navigating their own traditions with rituals outside their beliefs. Here are their stories.
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