Yes, well this past Christmas — I can’t recall the exact conversation — Regan was asking something about Santa. After, Kim had said something to the effect of “He isn’t real”. Regan said, “Yes, but where does the real Santa live?” So it’s just not going to work. You can tell him until you are blue in the face, but there is still a Santa Claus to him, no matter what! lol

You will have to ask Kim.

Actually, it isn’t that they will “believe” in Santa Claus, but we will have a Santa Claus celebration that will not conflict with our celebration of the birth of Christ.

Or rather I should clarify, Regan believes in Santa no matter what he is told.

Yes,

We want so much to be Americans (as in citizens of the U.S.). We want their movies, their food, their fashion, their wealth, their quality of life, etc…

We want it so bad that we really cannot define who we are because we have this “Me too” attitude.

So, in order to try to define who we are, we try to pick out the things we are not. Basically saying, “We are exactly like them, except for …”

I think the only parts of canadian culture that have a truly unique culture identity are the native canadians and the french canadians. The rest of us are american wannabes.

Is there a story here you’d care to share?

You will be pleased to know that the children are now allowed to believe in Santa Claus. This is one of the traditions we are going to adopt, from the Netherlands (yes we are picking and choosing from our different backgrounds). But it won’t interfere with celebration of the Saviour’s birth on Dec 25 (yes, before anyone jumps in, I know He wasn’t born then, I said CELEBRATION of His birth). We will do it Dec 5 (evening of, eve of Dec 6).

The children are thrilled too, lol.

Also for the record, your Scottish is closer to you than your Cree is. :)

If I picked one, it would likely be Scottish, but I can’t pick one.

With you it is different as your natural dad was 1/2 German and 1/2 Dutch. Then the French comes through from me and one of your natural grandmother’s line. If I was you I would decide which one means the most to me and then live that one out. There is nothing that says you can’t appreciate the culture of the others but you need to pick the most dominate one. Which of course is the French :-D

There is a commercial on TV right now I think it’s from Scotia Bank where a young couple adopted an Asian baby and they say that they always told themselves they would take her back one day to show her where she was from. The point is they are raising her as a Canadian with their culture but would, as a sidestep, teach her as well about her Asian roots.

You will have to decide which roots you will follow.. which ones mean the most to you… decide what means the most to you personally, what do you want your children to grow up knowing about you, what fits the most comfortably inside of you.

Think of it like a garden maze. There is one true path that you can follow to get you from point a to point b. There are also lots of other lines/paths that you can follow but you will be spinning your heels going all over the place trying to find your way. But if you have a plan and follow that plan you will get the end result that you are looking for.

Follow your instinct Kim. And if all that fails then follow the French because I said so :-D

As a Canadian raised in the west, but having lived in Quebec and Ontario for a few years, with strong American roots (and all the diluted european stuff, too) living in California…. I think the solution is to define your own personal/family culture. Personally, I define myself more by my religious beliefs than a nationality.

I also claim a culture involving large families, frequent family reunions, lots of email, camping, and traveling the country(countries)by sleeping on relatives floors.

That’s who I am.