Should I really have to boast about how much I celebrate Christmas? I think we are beyond that now aren’t we? Or do we still live in an age where we have to say how much we love Christmas because we think that is what people want to hear?

It is has been a pretty testing year and I am still awaiting for the odd headline about some Muslim somewhere or other who was offended by the nativity play. We haven’t had one yet but there is still a week to go.

They could go with the one about the Muslim journalist who wrote about not celebrating Christmas. I think that would appease the internet trolls.

I love Christmas. In fact I am a keen believer we should we should all get into the Christmas spirit because essentially it is about being a little more patient and generally not being such a grump.

Of course it might not be great for everyone but on the whole I do think there is a Christmas spirit we can all share.

But I what I find a little strange is that some folk feel obliged to say this every so often in case people think that because they are Muslim they might not like Christmas. Let us all wear a Santa outfit and shout about how much we love the whole holiday period.

I personally think it can get a bit laborious and repetitive. If you want to do a good deed at this time of year – just do it. We shouldn’t now have to dress it all up in tinsel and wear a santa hat in the process.

The whole point of it is to try to be a little modest in our actions but I sense we live in a time we won’t do anything unselfish unless we can post it on social media to tell the rest of our adoring pals how wonderful we are. Sorry that might sound a little too pessimistic but we all know this to be true.

On the same premise I find it insulting that we have a whole bunch of folk telling other Muslims that it is wrong to talk about Christmas. That we are so insecure in our religion that it will be infected that we resort to moaning when the festive period comes up.

It’s Christmas. It’s a holiday. Just be nice.