Guest Post: Nabila on celebrating eid

Hey you all, hope your week is going lovely. Today I’d like to introduce one of my closest friends here in Seattle. A talented photographer, awesome cook, and a dedicated wife/mom, besides working a full time job, Nabila is as close to super-woman as can be! She is one of those genuinely good people that we don’t run into very often these days! She and her husband welcomed their little guy earlier this year who makes the perfect little addition to their adventurous little family (mA)!

Here is what she had to say about her Eids.

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Tell us about yourself and your family

We are a small family of 3. I am a very proud mother to an adorable 8 month old who makes my life complete.

What does Eid mean to you?

Eid for me has always been about people. The people you spend it with, the people you have to call every year, and the people you miss because they are so far away. It is when the lines are erased between family and friends. I have not had too many of the traditional Eids that most Pakistanis have, but that is okay. I think I have come to cherish my-not-so-typical Eid, where we make our own traditions.

Tell us about any Eid traditions at your parents house when you were growing up

When I was growing up, most of our family was at least 8/9 hour drive away, my parents worked and we couldn’t always take a day off from school. Because nothing was constant we came to appreciate the little details that made our Eid Complete.

Some of my fondest memories are of us waiting for the package to come from Pakistan with our Eid clothes. Hoping it will arrive on time! I loved opened these packages because they were packed with love and smelled like Pakistan. The clothes would still have little pins in them that had your measurements on that you made sure you had to remove before you tried them on but every year the excitement of new clothes always made me forget.
Of my parents, and later my brothers making sure we go out the night before Eid to get me bangles and shoes that match my clothes. For some reason this was always a last minute thing at our house. We aren't known for planning. Of my mom getting up early in the morning to make kheer which made the whole house smell like a mix of cardamom, sugar and rose water. Of my dad waiting for all of us at the base of the stairs, rushing us, so we don't miss the Eid Nimaz.

The days would always end with us running around in our Eid clothes at a friends house getting the clothes we were so excited to wear, dirty, the bangles that were supposed to match,broken, and my hair clips missing.

Does you new little family (now that you are married/have children) have any of its own traditions?

As a working mom, I always have this guilt hanging over me that only other moms can understand. I want my son to have beautiful memories of Eid. I might not be able to give him the perfect Eid, but I hope he comes to love this slightly altered version of Eid like I have.

We make sure we put up lights outside the night before Eid. I make Kheer or Sheer Khorma that we give out to our neighbors. We go to the mosque in the morning and end up at someone's place surrounded by delicious food and friends who have become my family.

What do you want your kids to remember about Eid at 'their parents' house?

I want him to remember the magic and warmth of Eid and the people he spends it with. I feel like the holidays take us out of our routine and make us feel more special, more alive. Jokes are funnier, Kheer tastes better, friends are closer. We want to wear our nicest clothes and decorate our houses. Holidays freeze time and make us appreciate what we have.

No matter what our traditions are or how they change, I always want him to see the specialness in it. That no matter where he is in the world, or how old he is, my home and my heart will be open for him. He can always come home to the traditions he has come to treasure, where time will slow down, and life will be simpler.

all pictures taken by Nabila herself

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Thanks girl for sharing those beautiful memories/thoughts and pictures from your Eid. Hope your little family makes many many more of them in the years to come.

To view more from this series go here.

And thank you guys for stopping by!

Guest post: Sana on Celebrating Eid

Hey lovelies, want to introduce another beautiful lady today for another Eid post. Sana and I used to live in the same street almost 10-11 years ago, back in Islamabad. Her dad was in the Pakistan Airforce too and our families knew each other. However it wasn’t until recently that we got in touch through facebook and our mutual love for photography brought us together! She is a super talented photographer, lovely mom to two beautiful babies and has a love for interior décor. Her home is done up beautifully and hopefully we’ll be able to do a post only on her place sometime. Today though, she is sharing little pieces of her eid with us.

Read on to see what she said.

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Name:Sana Khan
Location: Sheffield, UK

Tell us about yourself and your family

I'm a semi-professional photographer (why would I not be with a full frame DSLR? Hehe); have done the occasional paid work but most of it is my passion so would also consider myself as a hobbyist photographer.

Allah has blessed me with two beautiful children whom are 4 years old and almost 1 year old.

My husband works in the biotech and nutraceuticals having run his own company since we met.

What does Eid mean to you

A time of celebration; a time to give thanksgivings for the bounties of Allah, a time to remember those who made sacrifices before us (Allah shower peace and blessings upon them - Ameen!). It is also a time that hearts become unified and bitterness, hatred and enmity are all left behind.

Tell us about any Eid traditions at your parents house when you were growing up

There were many, but to name one that was the most memorable was travelling together as a family to my father's hometown/village and all the other families would also travel and it would be the meeting point and get together of everyone in the family, no matter how far away they lived. Then of course, seeing nearest and dearest and close cousins and the banter would continue until the early hours of the morning!

Does you new little family (now that you are married/have children) have any of its own traditions:

We do the best we can to emulate the Eids from the time we grew up, albeit with a little change to accommodate not living in our homeland! So not much travelling to do but we still rendezvous at my father-in-laws house now! And all the usual stuff, new clothes, gifts, etc. Oh yes - a lot more gifts need to be purchased now for immediate family, i.e. nieces and nephews!

Has becoming a mom/wife changed your perspective on celebrating Eid

Yes and no. We are all still children at heart I believe and we covet what we once had but with those desires. We just transform them to fit our lives as adults rather than children!

 

What do you want your kids to remember about Eid at 'their parents' house

That it was a time of celebration and happiness and as they grow into their teenage years for them to understand the reasons and appreciate the need to celebrate Eid.

(all pictures taken by Sana herself)

What do you miss most about Eids spent in Pakistan and how do you try to make up for it(if you do):

Of course, I miss the company of my parents. However, I have been rather lucky that my husband has been with me in Pakistan to experience at least 3 of the ways I spent Eid and my mother was visiting from Pakistan recently and has spent last Eid with me!

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Thank you so much Sana for those beautiful pictures and for sharing thoughts and memories from your Eid.

To view more posts in this series go here.

Will be back with more. Thanks for stopping by!

Guest Post: Celebrating Eid with toddlers

For us in the US, Eid-ul-Azha was yesterday and to celebrate Eid on the blog, I’m so excited to be able to introduce some beautiful ladies over the coming week. They will all be sharing their thoughts on Eid, their own traditions, how they celebrate it. I think it will be fun to see how alike/different our celebrations are at the end of the day.

Today I’m so excited for this post from a childhood friend, Komal. We go a long way back with our parents knowing each other since even before they were married! It has been absolutely amazing knowing her lovely family over the years. Komal was there at my wedding and luckily I was able to attend hers. Now she is happily settled in Canada with her husband and the little man in their lives, Raffay.  Komal says she got inspired by the blog( yes, this little blog of mine) to make some eid traditions of her own. And she decided to involve her little boy in the Eid preparations from this young age. An idea I absolutely adore.

Here is what she wrote (Her intro made me kind of teary. Not sure how much I deserve her sweet words but well, I love you girl).

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Hello Everyone, I’m Komal, an old family friend of Nataliya. We go back a long way when our fathers used to be in the Pakistan Airforce where we spent and made some fond memories that to this day I hold close to my heart Nataliya, a gem of a person. A true inspiration in every meaning of the word is the reason I am here writing on her blog and being part of a very interesting Eid series!

Lately I had been visiting her blog quite often and loved her approach towards motherhood. Of course, after viewing her blog, I would get this instant feeling to engage in the same activities with my boy – myself being a mom of a very active 21 month old toddler, but would always fall lazy. And I was getting tired of this attitude. So I thought to myself what better occasion to start than the coming Eid ul Adha. It is on Eids when I miss my home the most. My parents, my siblings, the food, the relatives, the whole Eid shabang. . It shows how my parents had made an effort to make those memories beautiful for us! For the past 3 years, I would always reminisce on Eid how wonderful it would have been if I were in Pakistan with my family, enjoying Eid in its full glory. Today the tables have turned, I am a mother who is blessed with a beautiful family and today it’s my turn to start making memories for my family so that one day when my son grows up, he would also think about his Eid celebrations with us in the same loving manner as I am doing today- of course while sipping on a hot cup of tea!

So the week prior to Eid,I took out all my crafts supplies and laid the ideas on the table. From gifts that will be given as Eidi to cousins and friends, to wrapping papers, craft papers, balloons to fairy lights, all were literally laid on the table to inspire us.

I assigned Raffay (my Son) a project that he would do for his grandparents as a gift for Eid.

(all photos are taken by Komal herself)

The last photo is from my iPhone of the gift Raffay made with a personalized gift bag(using paper flowers I made). After a couple of tries on the rough paper I asked him if he would press his palm against the canvas paper and he blatantly refused! Finally after 2-3 failed attempts, I asked him to give me a high five on the canvas, which he did and that's how I got his palm impression :)

I cannot wait for their priceless expressions when Raffay hands them over his artistic creation.

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Isn’t that just lovely? That we can involve our babies, whatever their age, in our Eid preparations and celebrations. I love it!

Thank you so much Komal for sharing a piece of your eid here! She will be back with another post soon!

Don’t forget to check back for more in this series.

Thanks for stopping by!