Iraqi Blog?

Amman, in Jordan, is historically connected to the Biblical Ammonites! I would never have guessed. I needed to see where Amman is, to appreciated this one blog:

http://afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com/

(excerpt)

Even when my sons were children, and we used to live in Amman, when the new year comes along, and the streets would see people carrying bells, dressed as Santa Claus, in red and white, my boys used to go crazy, shouting and begging; mama, papa, we want to get out and buy from that store… Innocent children, and the storeowners were sly, they would lure fathers and mothers to grant the wishes of their sons and daughters. The equation is balanced, in which each has a certain role…
I used to buy them balloons, and a small x-mass tree with blinking lights, and a big Santa Claus doll to sit in a corner of the living room. I never thought that these were Christian's rituals and we are Muslims… things were normal and calm, there was no stress or susceptibility from these things, like what is happening now… Times changed, and so did people…

(End of excerpt)

That's funny about the Christmas tree and Santa Claus. They could be considered not Christian, but pagan vestiges adopted by Christians and, in this blurb, Muslims. Funny.