Lost and found in a holiday mash-up (from Expat Life in Thailand)
In a mixed up expat, inpat, third culture, mixed blood, cross-culture family, which holidays should we celebrate? And how?
Each year, the December/January holiday season is a time of confusion for me. We are a family of expats and Thai, third culture, mixed blood, cross-culture kids and adults. I’m from Japan but half grew up in the US; my husband’s German-Thai; and our three kids have been in Thailand since birth. I've read that it's important for children to grow up with family traditions. But with such a wealth of backgrounds to choose from, I am stumped when it comes to figuring out which holidays to celebrate with our kids, and how.
In practice, we commemorate a random mish-mash of holidays throughout the year: April Songkran lod naam (water pouring ceremony) with the Thai elders and November krathong floating, Japanese March Girls' Day and July Tanabata ‘Star Festival’, German-style birthdays, Christmas and, some years, Easter, as well as the ubiquitous American Hal…
Each year, the December/January holiday season is a time of confusion for me. We are a family of expats and Thai, third culture, mixed blood, cross-culture kids and adults. I’m from Japan but half grew up in the US; my husband’s German-Thai; and our three kids have been in Thailand since birth. I've read that it's important for children to grow up with family traditions. But with such a wealth of backgrounds to choose from, I am stumped when it comes to figuring out which holidays to celebrate with our kids, and how.
In practice, we commemorate a random mish-mash of holidays throughout the year: April Songkran lod naam (water pouring ceremony) with the Thai elders and November krathong floating, Japanese March Girls' Day and July Tanabata ‘Star Festival’, German-style birthdays, Christmas and, some years, Easter, as well as the ubiquitous American Hal…
