This is the second installment in a series where Rochester Mom Collective highlights the holiday traditions of an intercultural and/or interfaith family in our community. We recognize these families for the hard work they put into blending the traditions from different ethnicities and religions for the sake of creating holiday magic for their children.
You might find elements of your own family experience reflected in these narratives. It can be reassuring to realize that other families are also navigating the intricacies of celebrating multiple holidays simultaneously. Even if these families are very different from yours, these stories could still potentially inspire you with fresh ideas for your own festive customs.
Carly is a fellow adoptive parent and, like my family, they chose to build their family through international adoption. Carly, her husband, and their elementary school-aged daughter live in Fairport. I want to sincerely thank Carly for being willing to share her family’s holiday celebrations with us.
Question: What winter holiday or holidays did your family celebrate when you were a child?
Answer: We celebrated Christmas in my family when I was a child. My father is Puerto Rican and some years we attended celebrations for Dia de los Reyes Magos in the community, but it wasn’t a holiday that we celebrated at home.
Question: What were some of your favorite traditions associated with that holiday or those holidays when you were a child?
Answer: My father always read “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” right before we went to bed on Christmas Eve. Even when we were adults and were celebrating Christmas with partners’ families, my siblings and I would all call in from wherever we were on Christmas Eve to listen as he read. Last year was the first year that we celebrated Christmas with my daughter, and my dad continued the tradition by reading “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” with her before she went off to bed.
Question: What winter holiday or holidays does your family celebrate now?
Answer: We celebrate Christmas and Dia de los Reyes Magos.
Question: Which holiday traditions do you still practice with your children now as a mother?
Answer: We continue the “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” reading tradition. It was also always my family’s holiday tradition to make and decorate cut-out cookies every Christmas. Those are the cookies we always left for Santa. I have continued this tradition with my own daughter. My husband grew up in a family that didn’t bake, so he always left Oreos for Santa. Now our daughter leaves a plate with both Oreos and our homemade cut-out cookies for Santa.
Question: What new traditions do you participate in with your children now?
Answer: My daughter is Thai, so a new tradition that we began during her first Christmas with us is cooking a big Thai feast for dinner on Christmas Eve. As a Thai-Puerto Rican family, We also make a big batch of Thai Iced Tea to drink throughout the holiday season along with making a big batch of Coquito (best described as Puerto Rican eggnog). We also celebrate Dia de Los Reyes Magos as a family, which is a new tradition for both my husband and I even though we both grew up in Puerto Rican families. As a family we decorate a cardboard box which we then fill with hay for the wise men’s camels. In our family, the wise men leave books in exchange for the hay. Our daughter is terrified of the idea of camels coming into her room, so although it’s traditional to leave the box of hay under the bed, she leaves it in the hallway outside her room.
Question: Any words of wisdom or advice for other mothers as they navigate this holiday season?
Answer: There is so much pressure to do ALL the traditions during the holiday. The visits with Santa, and gingerbread house making, and tree lightings, etc. I’ve tried hard to not worry about doing all the things, but picking just a few traditions to focus on and then fitting in what we can. Let your children’s interests and development drive how you celebrate the holiday.
Wise words that speak to the need a lot of us feel to simplify this season. Thank you for the reminder, Carly! Happy Holidays!
