Christmas in Sharjah

It's Christmas Eve. Magdalena went to school today. Neither Jeremy nor I teach on Mondays, so we had the day "off" - but we spent the morning finishing up some work so we could enjoy the holiday. We went to spinning class. The songs were Christmas-themed. You think you hate George Michael's "Last Christmas" now? Just wait until your spinning instructor makes you do jumps the whole time.

Tomorrow (Christmas Day) is, thankfully, a holiday for the university. But it's right back to business on Wednesday. Since the holiday is on a Tuesday, it makes for a weird schedule this week. I actually had several students complain that the university didn't move the holiday to Sunday or Thursday for a kind of "Christmas (Observed)" 3-day weekend. I understand the sentiment there, but at the same time, I don't think you can do that with Christmas. I also had a brief pearl-clutching moment in my MA class that meets on Tuesday when a few students volunteered that they would rather come in on the holiday (aka CHRISTMAS) to meet instead of doing a make-up class. Thank goodness, my (Muslim) professor didn't take them up on the offer.

We're heading out soon to a Christmas Eve dinner at a friend's house. Let Christmas begin!

Merry Christmas!