Greatest gift for Iraqi Christians -- returning home

Hundreds of families are returning from exile. Security has improved and worshipers at Christmas services hope for peace. But violence is never far away.
By Kimi Yoshino and Ali Hameed
December 26, 2008

Reporting from Baghdad -- Three years ago, a note appeared at Lita Kaseer's door. It contained a bullet and a one-word message: "Leave."Kaseer fled, along with hundreds of other Christian families in the Dora neighborhood in southwest Baghdad, once a vibrant Christian community.

This year, she returned home from Syria, and on Thursday, attended Christmas Mass with her husband and 7-month-old son.

"It's always better to come home," said her husband, Khalid Kamil, 34. "In any other place, you are a stranger. . . . This is not the way our life should be."

Hundreds of Christians gathered to celebrate Christmas in Baghdad, most acknowledging that improved security conditions have allowed them to move more freely throughout the city after returning from years-long exiles in Syria, Egypt, Jordan or Iraq's northern Kurdistan region. the rest