Festive fun exhausts me, but for the sake of my family Iam living a lie

I don’t know if you’ve ever spent any time around any truly lovely people, but they can be very hard work

- Sarfraz Manzoor

CHRISTMAS is exhausting. I grew up in a Muslim household where my parents made it an act of faith to wilfully ignore Christmas.

There was no tree, no presents and no family Christmas lunch around the dining table. I missed out on these rituals, but now that I am married to someone who is not Muslim and have two young children, ignoring Christmas simply is not an option. These days we go all in — tree, wreath, advent calendar, home-made cards, secret Santa with her family and carol singing. You name it, we do it. And that’s fine — it is nice to be able to give Laila and Ezra a taste of the magic and joy I never had — but it comes at a price and for me that means having to pretend to feel things that I do not.