Finding Multiethnic Christmas Decor

For those of us with families of color or multiethnic families, the holidays are another time when many of us seek to reflect our family members' varied apeparances, cultural history and ethnic origins in our celebrations. In that vein, I thought some of you might be interested in a new post by the blogger The Krazy Koupon Lady on Where to Find Ethnic Christmas Decor. She links to Christmas stockings with brown-skinned children on them, African-American santas, Black angel Christmas tree toppers and other Christmas items depicting people of color.

There are also many sources for inexpensive Mexican Christmas ornaments and Feliz Navidad decorations.  You might have seen this Doorways Around the World: Mexico ornament from Hallmark's Doorways Around the World series.

We don't celebrate Christmas in our home, but if I had a Christmas tree I think you'd find it would mostly be decorated with homemade ornaments and artisan-made hand-crafted ornaments rather than mass-produced ornaments. Homemade decorations are a great opportunity to really reflect your family members' interests and identities. I also  remember as a child seeing beautiful, inexpensive Mexican nativity scenes in the shops in the Southwest when I visited my family. They were beautiful handmade ceramic creches and were both inexpensive and plentiful. A great place to find cultural crafts is in the grocery stores and gift shops of immigrant communities near you, whether it's the local Korean market or the gift shop at the Ethiopian church in your area.

If you know of any resources for cultural Christmas crafts, decorations or recipes, please leave them in the comments!

Wonderful Idea for Internationally Adopted Kids & Those With Multiple Geographic Connections

For those of us with children whose roots stretch across the globe or who are strongly identified with more than one area of the country/state find ourselves on an important lifelong quest to find ways to honor and acknowledge their complex histories and geographical origins. I saw these customizable map posters today on Zulily and was so charmed by them because they seem like a lovely way to validate and make visible our childrens' complex identities and their need for a sense of rootedness. They are maps of continents, states, countries or the entire world - And include heart stickers that can be placed in the areas where your child or family's roots lie. On the bottom they read "My Roots Lie Here." I also happen to adore Children Inspire Design, and we already have several of their prints (such as their beautiful Spanish counting cards) up in our toddler's bedroom!

I imagined how these customized posters might take shape for the multiethnic or internationally adopted children in my life. Some examples I was thinking of:

• Friends of mine have an internationally adopted child from Ethiopia and one from Korea. I imagined they might put the heart stickers on an international map, representing their childrens' countries / cities of origin as well as the states in which the parents were born and perhaps also their whole family's current home in New Jersey. As a Jewish family with deep connections to Israel they might also put a heart on the city of Jerusalem.

• I have friends whose foster-adopted daughter made several moves throughout Minnesota before joining their family. This child's state poster of Minnesota might have hearts in all of the counties where they spent a significant amount of time and felt connected and loved. Or perhaps the child would choose to put it only on their adoptive home, where they feel like part of a family and are experiencing unconditional love for the first time. 

• My cousin's father is from New York and his mother is from Nicaragua. They live in California. His "roots" map might show his connections to both the U.S. and Nicaragua.

• My older foster son is extremely connected to the city he was raised in and where his mother resides. Even if we adopt him, if we were to put up a state map he might choose to put his "heart" on that city.

These map posters are on the Zulily site at 50% off their original prices until November 3. You can view or order them here. I would also love to hear if anyone has made a similar poster as a DIY crafts project!