Purchases of goods and services from Ottawa small businesses to help community s most vulnerable From left, Gary Zed with his fiancée, Liza Mrak, and sons Liam and Colin (absent is daughter Olivia) on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020 at a BBQ to feed the hungry at The Ottawa Mission as one of more than a dozen community projects launched by Zed and his family to help local charities and small businesses. Photo by Caroline Phillips
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TORONTO Growing up Muslim, Mohammad Hussain has long avoided the bustle of Christmas shopping, tree-decorating and countless Christmas-related gatherings during the month of December. But, like millions of others across the country, he won’t be headed home for the holidays because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, he’s hunkering down with his “amazing roommates” in Ottawa and learning what it means to have a “proper Christmas,” he told CTVNews.ca by phone on Monday. And his tweets, which detail all the pomp and rituals with “anthropological precision,” have been widely shared, with Hussain’s initial tweet receiving 343,000 likes by Monday night.
Man's tweets describing his first Christmas as 'part-time job' go viral ctvnews.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ctvnews.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mohammad Hussain/Supplied
Mohammad Hussain refuses to wear ugly Christmas sweaters and has no Christmas-y photos of himself, yet. We must all set boundaries for our own mental health, he said.
Mohammad Hussain is taking full advantage of his first Christmas, tweeting detailed field notes on the overwhelming and too-real phenomenon of gift buying, tree decorating and feast planning.
Growing up Muslim, Hussain never celebrated the intense holiday season. However, this year he’s not travelling home, thanks to the novel coronavirus pandemic, and instead staying put with his Ottawa roommates.
He said they’re teaching him how to have a “proper Christmas” a learning curve that seems to have resonated with a lot of people. The thread has more than 237,000 likes as of Sunday afternoon.
Posted: Dec 20, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: December 20, 2020
Libin Omar holds up Ethiopian and Somali spice mixes at The Social Market in Hintonburg. Omar took part in Thirteen: A Social Enterprise and is now employed through the program as a social media and marketing co-ordinator.(Jean Delisle/CBC)
A new store in Hintonburg is teaching teenagers, mostly newcomers to Canada, how to be entrepreneurs and also providing shoppers with a venue to buy local this holiday season.
The Social Market opened last month on Wellington Street W. The shop carries products like coffee, masks, scarves, and jewelry that support social causes like food banks and clean water initiatives.