Christmas is a time where I think the young enjoy more than the old. Well, why not? They only have to look forward to receiving the presents, eating the festive food, and meeting the cousins, and relatives they haven’t seen for a long while. For us adults however, there is the stress of getting everything organised. From getting the presents, to the decorations, food, sending out of Christmas cards and not to forget the end of year get togethers BEFORE Christmas. Then not only do we have to get the presents organised, but also have them wrapped up! That is one thing I don’t really look forward to. Wrapping. Wrapping the gifts up so nicely only to have them RIPPED apart within seconds! So, I was thrawling through a few blogs and came across one of my favourite craft blogs, which had the idea of having Santa Sacks! The blogger, who cannot be bothered with wrapping presents thought of a better way to present her gifts. A Santa Sack. A sack where you can put all the presents in. One for each person. Well, she made one for each of her children. Now, not only did she save time on wrapping, but she also helped save the earth! A recyclable item that can be used for the next few years! The construction is pretty easy really. Just like a sack. If you have no time to sew or just don’t like to sew, why not purchase one of those plain calico bags and have your children decorate them instead? They can draw on it with fabric markers, or paint with fabric paint or just paste some embellishments with fabric glue! Put the bags under the tree and come Christmas morning, it would be filled with presents. Saves you from wrapping the presents and clearing up the mess of wrapping paper afterwards too!
Christmas is just around the corner, and for those of you who just hate fighting through the crowds at the shopping malls, like me, why not shop online? Ok, so we’re an online store, so you would think we’re trying to promote our store. Well, kind of, but seriously, I still prefer shopping online. For instance I went looking for my daughters’ gifts at the shopping mall the other day. Boy have I never felt frustrated shopping before! I usually LOVE shopping. But, when it comes to knowing or seeing an ad for the thing advertised, and then heading there NOT finding it, now, that’s a big annoyance! Not only was I wasting time that could be spent doing other things, but it was also tiring and a waste of petrol I say. I was actually looking for a particular toy – the Sylvanian Family collection. It was advertised that they would be at Target. No, not even a stand. So I got home and thought, why don’t I try the internet? Sure enough, there were plenty and even one site dedicated to selling just that collection – www.sylvaniancity.com! They are based in NSW and I thought, I would try buying a small amount to see how reliable they were. 3 days later, my package arrived – in mint condition! It was so easy. No hassle, no crowds, all in the convenience of my own home. I also got to “window shop” so to speak at the different online stores that had the collection and compare prices. So, if you want to save some time then I strongly suggest shopping online for things that you don’t need to try on. Make sure they are a secure site, and have contact details that you can actually reach should you need your queries answered quickly.
To some of you who have met me or seen my photos, you would see that I am an Asian, my whole family is Asian. But there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. Both my husband and I come from totally different backgrounds, he is a Chinese Vietnamese, while I am a Malay Singaporean. So, in Asian terms, our kids are of a mixed racial background.
With this also comes the question of religion, maybe not so much in Australia, but very much so if you came from Singapore and is a born Muslim. The issue of conversion comes into play and hence, how we raise our children. My husband and I know the intricacies of raising a child in a predominantly Anglo- Saxon society, and have always tried our best to inculcate whatever cultural backgrounds we each have into the upbringing of our children. It is not easy to raise a child without having to think about culture and religion, imagine the two of us trying our best not to let our children forget where we came from, so that they can pass it on to the generations to come. As for religion, we have decided not to pursue those issues. Life is complicated enough without having to introduce them to the idea of God etc. We believe in raising our children to be honest, loyal, knowledgeable and sincere human beings.
So how do we help foster the culture we both originate from? My religion celebrates Eid – the end of Ramadhan (fasting month), and with that celebration from my cultural background – we visit our friends and relatives and of course one of the most outstanding part of all cultures – FOOD! So, instead of focusing on the religious aspect of this celebration, we have the children dress up in the cultural costumes, I would bake the special cakes and cookies that we normally do in Singapore and also cook the special foods that are normally served. Rendang served with compressed rice, mixed vegetables in coconut milk, and much, much more! Recently I even invited my friends over to my house to have a taste of these fanfare. Another part of this celebration is the giving away of money to children or young adults who have not yet started working. It acts like a token, any amount is acceptable.
The same goes for my husband’s culture. He celebrates Chinese New Year. To expose my children to this part of the culture, we would go for a reunion dinner with his side of the family and on the eve we would hold our own reunion dinner at our house, just the five of us. Here we would normally have steamboat – this is where we choose from an array of raw and marinated foods and cook it in simmering stock together. The children will also get to dress up and visit my husband’s family and get what we call “Ang Pow” or red packet, which is filled with money.
The children love celebrating these special cultural occasions and it also opens up their eyes on the different customs that come along with it. We only recently started celebrating Christmas. Again, not the religious but rather cultural aspect of gift giving and getting together with friends and family. In part, I think it is important to expose my chidren to the different cultural backgrounds that we have not only in our family but in our society. By teaching them about giving more than the receiving, it gives them a more wholesome experience and deeper understanding of where they come from and where they would be going and are a part of. We can only hope these experiences will enrich their lives and be passed on to the next generations.
So, how about you? Do you have any interesting cultural celebrations or customs that you might like to share?
