Mohammad Hussain with his two roommates.
Christmas – the festival of mistletoe and wine, warmth and a good mood … but also a time for frenzied gift shopping and last-minute races and extensive meal preparations. To the causal observer, Christmas seems to be a time to relax, eat, and exchange gifts with friends and family. But as a viral Twitter thread from a man celebrating Christmas for the first time shows, there’s a lot more to this festival than gifts and good food.
Mohammad Hussain is a Muslim man whose observations about the holiday have resonated with thousands around the world.
Mr Hussain, who lives in Canada, decided to celebrate the holiday with his roommates after they couldn’t travel home due to Covid restrictions.
“I just wanted to get involved and help them,” he told the BBC. “I couldn’t help but notice that they were much, much better at it than me. The example I come to is that we made the garland around the stairs and I was really having problems, and my roommate went at the speed of light. “
The 25-year-old listed some of his other Christmas observations on a Twitter thread that quickly went viral on the microblogging platform.
“From the outside, Christmas always seemed pretty easy. I always thought you put up a tree and then gave gifts to the family. This is a lie,” he wrote as part of Observation 1.
Observation 1: Christmas is a part-time job that you have from mid-November through late December.
From the outside, Christmas always seemed pretty easy. I always thought you’d put up a tree and then give gifts to the family. That’s a lie.
– Mohammad Hussain (@MohammadHussain) 19th December 2020
His eight other observations included “Every free moment you have is spent tormenting over the gifts you need to buy,” “Your gift budget doesn’t matter,” and that Christmas tree decorations are expensive.
Observation 6: Ornaments are expensive.
That cost me $ 15.99. That’s more than three bagels. I am angry. For what it cost, you best believe I insist that it be passed on to my great-grandchildren. If you break it I’ll chase you.
– Mohammad Hussain (@MohammadHussain) 19th December 2020
He also tweeted about the religious aspect of this Christian festival – which is often “optional” – and closed his thread with the applause of longtime Christmas revelers. “Finally, I would like to applaud the long-time Christmas party. It is a lot of work and very exhausting. I will say I have a very good time,” he wrote.
Mr. Hussain’s Twitter thread went viral with over 91,000 “retweets” and more than 3.5 lakh “likes”.
The thread even caught the eye of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who agreed it was spot on.
Yes that sums it up … thanks for sharing what you’ve learned so far. Sophie and I send our best wishes to you and your roommates for Christmas and we look forward to hearing that you are enjoying everything so far!
– Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 21, 2020
Mohammad Hussain and his roommates plan to spend Christmas opening their presents, playing board games, cooking and eating a 12-course meal.
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