Winter is here and according to the weather forecast, it’s even going to snow this Sunday (in Holland) Can’t wait!

My favourite part of this time of year are all the tiny lights everywhere you look and the fact that you don’t need an excuse to make your home cosy as a mother%&#

Growing up in a Muslim (Dad)/ Christian (Mom) household in both a mostly Muslim country (Tunisia) as a mostly Christian country (Holland), I have always tried to keep up with traditions on both ends.

Last week, for example, it was Mouled; the celebration of the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed; and in Tunisia it’s custom to make Asida on this day. Asida is a pudding made from pine cone seeds which is usually presented with elaborate decorations containing ground almond and pistachios. Click here to see how I make mine.

And this week it’s time to concentrate on Christmas. So this weekend I started to decorate our home with a tree and lights everywhere(with a little help from my niece & nephew)

Click here for all the Christmas tree decorating inspiration tips you need, here for your gift wrapping inspo and here for all your tablesetting ideas.

Sidenote: Contrary to popular belief, the tradition of decorating a tree is not a Christian tradition. Instead Pagans in Europe used branches of evergreen fir trees to decorate their homes and brighten their spirits during the winter solstice. Early Romans used evergreens to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia, while ancient Egyptians used green palm rushes as part of their worship of the god Ra.

If you’d like to know more about this, click here or here.

So what are your holiday traditions?