25GoC: Samira Armin Hodges

So with a name like Samira Armin, you’ve probably already guessed that my heritage may not be one that typically celebrates Christmas. Thankfully, when my family moved to Canada many moons ago (when I was but 5 years old), they witnessed the wonder of Christmas and attemped to adapt these traditions at home. So for years now, even though I’m of no religious preference, I have celebrated this fantastic holiday and have taken part in all the festivities with much happiness. Sounds great, right? Truly, it has been.
With one tiny exception.

Since my parents were from a foreign country, they sort of “winged” the concept of Christmas at our house, thinking they had it all figured out. How hard could it be, right? It wasn’t until I married my husband (hence the Hodges at the end of my name) that I witnessed what a REAL North American Christmas is actually supposed to be like….and thus figured out how awkward and funny my Christmas experiences have been so far. So without further delay, I give you the top 10 reasons why you should have spent at least one Christmas with me growing up.

10- Instead of turkey, stuffing and all the traditional fixings, we had an imitation dinner which usually involved some ethnic variation including rice, meatballs and stew. It was the same, only way, way different.

9- We left our stockings empty. We never quite understood the purpose of stockings and for the longest time, thought they were purely decorative. What (of value) could possibly fit into a stocking? Presents had to be BIG.

8- Santa existed but not in the way you would think. Presents were addressed from people such as “Mommy Santa” and “Daddy Santa” and “Auntie Santa” and “Doggie Santa”….It wasn’t hard to figure out who they were actually from.
7- No cookies for Santa. But always, always cookies for us!
6- Our Christmas tree was a project eagerly taken on by my mother who didn’t like the idea of “multiple colors”. So she stuck with one color theme per year. My favourite was the year of the gold. God forbid somebody would want to add a different ornament to the tree. Nocando. It would just have to wait until the year it would match the rest of the tree. Let’s just say our trees were very (very) flashy.
5- We didn’t actually know the words to Christmas songs or carols. We knew the tunes though! So we happily sang our own versions which were sometimes as lame as “Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle Jingle Bells! La la la la la lala lal la la Jingle Bells!”
4- Christmas movies. Yes, even we couldn’t screw that up. Back when I was a kid, we used to love watching “All I want for Christmas”. Have you seen this movie? It’s rather old but so very cute and sweet. It’s about two kids who try to get their divorced parents back together for the holidays.
3- We played “hide the present”. Turns out, we got Easter and Christmas mixed up.
2- We had no clue what mistletoes were. Usually, they would be decorating our house in the most random places (you know, like the bathroom).
1- Since we were Canadian, we also always had a white Christmas which would mean (you know it!), an unusual Christmas snowman. Instead of coal and carrots, think cucumbers and prunes.

Thanks for having me Jill!

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Anytime Samira! Thanks for stopping by! Your holidays sound very festive and full of love and very very very unique!

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas this year (though I'm very doubtful that you'll get a White Christmas here in Texas...)

Make sure to check out all the contests going on all month long and keep checking in daily for more festive guests!

Thanks so much!

Jill