How do you communicate or illustrate your cultural influence on the Thanksgiving holiday?
By: Cristy Clavijo-Kish, Co-Publisher
Do you focus on its original American style and add your twists? Or, do you change it up all together? What are some of the ‘twists’ and how do you get your tweens involved so they participate and embrace your efforts and family culture?
For example, our family consists of Cubans, Anglos and Italians from Bayone, New Jersey! We serve up a traditional American meal and add a pot of “moros”- mixed black beans and white rice while enjoying some terrific “Italian cookies” that my Uncle makes. Our kids know that “Uncle Ray” always has something special in store for all and that “Aba” adds a Cuban twist. They do enjoy the sweet potato casserole with browned marshmallows that either I or “Tia Maggie” makes- and of course, they must have their turkey. We all do watch that Tia Maggie doesn’t BURN the marshmallows- its an infamous family issue! So its fun. We involve our Tweens in the seating arrangement planning and they help plan and make the desserts. For the decorations, I keep a box of their school artwork and spread it around the tables or windows. They LOVE to see their work and it reminds me of how fast they’re growing up! Noooooo.. ;-(((
As a mother of twin tweens in 2011 and an active Girl Scout Troop leader, Cristy realized there was a need to develop bilingual digital content and foster a community facing the challenges of raising kids after first grade. That year she founded and remains co-Publisher of Los Tweens & Teens, to support multicultural parents and mentors with content related to raising Gen Z- tweens & teens ages 7-18. Through the Los Tweens & Teens LIVE events such as Teens & Me – the growing team aims to provide our community with essential resources from chats with therapists to battle anxiety and bullying, to understanding social media and technology.