Missing Home This Holiday Season

It's holiday season again, and I miss being home. I go to shopping malls and watch people shopping frantically for themselves, their friends and families. I myself don't really have anyone to give holiday gifts to here in the U.S. I don't have anyone to give me gifts either.

I used to buy gifts for family during Eid times when I lived in Bangladesh. So, the Christmas season reminds me of Eid celebrations back home. I miss my family more than ever when I see people shopping for Christmas gifts, buying carts full of grocery items for Christmas dinner or decorating their homes with Christmas trees and lights.

Sometimes, it's difficult being an expatriate, especially when you see people around you celebrating such religious occasions with their families and friends. You think of the people you left behind. I remember how Dhaka used to be decorated with little white and colorful lights before the Eid times. My city looked beautiful. The malls were always overcrowded, people shopped like crazy from morning till late at night and even the night before Eid. The festive mood touched every one and it felt so good.

So, every holiday season I miss being home, I miss being surrounded by extended family, I miss the aroma of delicious food in the air, and above all, I miss being in Dhaka.

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