It's Christmas Day - not that you would notice in Morocco.
Not surprisingly, this Islamic country sees December the 25th as just that
Life goes on as normal. All the shops - and even banks - are open for business
There are no festive lights in the street, no Christmas music pouring out from the radio airways.
This lack of festive spirit takes some getting used to, but when you do
it's easy to see how much of western Christmas really is little more than excessive hype and a compulsion to be happy for 12 days.
However, to believe that there is no acknowledgement of Christmas in Islamic countries is a mistake
Christmas, as with a lot of aspects of Moroccan life, divides the population into two groups based on education and wealth.
The Moroccan families with a more European approach to life, which typically is the more wealthy,
often put up Christmas trees and will decorate their homes.
Some will invite extended family members for a special meal; although it isn't always on Christmas Day.
Moroccans tend to see Christmas as a holiday period with equal value to every day
rather than as a build up to one special day
Where christmas time is most obvious is in the shopping malls and large department stores.
Here, you see the usual symbols of Christmas
presents under the tree, Father Christmas
and in a country that has a substantial part of it as desert
even snowmen!
In this environment, it's easy to see Moroccans getting into the spirit of the occasion;
although to be honest, for many of them the occasion is the coming of the new year
not the arrival of the baby Jesus
The majority of decorations refer to the new year
Moroccans whom I know wish me a Merry Christmas just as Iwish them Eid Mubarak on their festive occasions
Acknowledging or even celebrating Christmas in Morocco is not seen as offensive
It's just not important to the vast majority of Moroccans
In the UK, I was told the reason why no one goes door-to-door carol singing anymore
is because Muslims get offended if you knock on their door and sing Christmas songs to them
but nothing could be further from the truth
You don't need to live in a Muslim country for very long to realise that Muslims don't have a problem with the West
it's the West that has a problem with the Muslims
Christmas Mubarak, everybody!