{"id":8323,"date":"2022-10-24T17:06:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T17:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/?p=8323"},"modified":"2022-10-24T17:36:45","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T17:36:45","slug":"celebrating-holidays-in-a-multicultural-household-anuja-mohla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/24\/celebrating-holidays-in-a-multicultural-household-anuja-mohla\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Holidays in a Multicultural Household – Anuja Mohla"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Holiday season is truly the most wonderful time of the year. While most people would agree that the\u00a0holiday season is magical, some may differ on when that magic begins. It may start around Navratri,\u00a0Halloween, Diwali, or Christmas depending on which holiday you celebrate, and where you live.\u00a0<\/p>


Growing up in Delhi, Diwali was my favorite holiday and it marked the beginning of the holiday season\u00a0for me.\u00a0I lived in an apartment complex so my friends, my sisters and I would start choreographing dance\u00a0routines months in advance for the annual Diwali function.\u00a0The distinct sound of fireworks being set off\u00a0and the delicious scent of mithai would fill the air several weeks before Diwali. Leading up to the
auspicious\u00a0event, we all focused on cleaning the house, prepping for Diwali puja, buying new clothes, and
exchanging gifts with loved ones. Finally, the much awaited day of Diwali arrived.\u00a0 We spent the day\u00a0with family praying for health and happiness for all as well as cooking a feast.\u00a0 We ended the night by\u00a0lighting diyas and setting off firecrackers.<\/p>

However, once I immigrated to America, Diwali didn\u2019t feel the same. My family lived\u00a0in different parts\u00a0of the world making it very difficult to spend time together.\u00a0 Once I had my children, I began to enjoy the\u00a0festivities of Diwali again.\u00a0 I desire to practice similar traditions and rituals with them as I did while\u00a0growing up.\u00a0 We shop for new clothes, make fresh handmade mithai, exchange gifts with loved ones,\u00a0decorate the house, make an Indian feast for dinner and pray together as a family.\u00a0 Yet,\u00a0I realized that all
of the excitement surrounding Diwali doesn\u2019t come as naturally for my son living in America as it did for\u00a0me while growing up in India. He starts noticing the orange and purple Halloween decorations before we
pull out our box of colorful Diwali decorations from the garage. He starts smelling the apple cider before\u00a0the scent of fresh mithai fills the air. He gets excited for his Halloween costume before we get a chance to
pick out the Diwali kurta. He starts reading Halloween books at school before we start seeing Diwali\u00a0books on sale.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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While I am a Delhite at heart, my husband is an Indian born and raised in America. He loves Diwali but\u00a0he loves his Halloween and Christmas holiday just as much, if not more. Even though we are both are Indians,\u00a0we continue to raise our kids with a multicultural upbringing by celebrating both Indian and American
holidays. Usually,\u00a0Diwali falls within 1-2 weeks after Halloween so my husband tends to decorate the\u00a0house with his Halloween decorations.\u00a0 Afterwards, we would take a few days to do a complete makeover\u00a0and flip our house to a sparkling Indian household for Diwali. However, this year Diwali falls a week\u00a0before Halloween which is what helped me realize the opportunity to incorporate them together so our\u00a0kids can truly enjoy the entire month prior to both holidays by essentially celebrating them
simultaneously.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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This year we made the effort to take\u00a0out our Diwali books and Halloween books together for our bedtime\u00a0reading. We had my son help put up Diwali decorations inside the house and Halloween decorations\u00a0outside the house. We added neutral lights to our outdoor space that would match Diwali, Halloween & \u00a0Christmas decorations. My husband bought some colorful Halloween stickies for the windows while I got\u00a0a big box of colored powder to create a beautiful rangoli design on the porch.\u00a0My husband got our\u00a0Halloween costumes ready and I have the Diwali outfits covered. My husband picked up the candy bags\u00a0while I started prepping to make some fresh mithai at home this week. These past few weeks helped me
realize the beauty of rangoli designs alongside the pumpkins on our porch instead of competing for that\u00a0space.\u00a0<\/p>


As we raise our kids in this multicultural world, I feel it is important for us as parents to show our kids the\u00a0beauty in celebrating both Indian and American holidays together. I\u00a0hope this year, you have found space\u00a0in your home and your yard for both pumpkins and lights alongside rangoli and diyas to add some\u00a0brightness to your holidays.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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About Author<\/b><\/u><\/p>

Anuja Mohla, DO, MBA is a physician turned author with her award winning debut book \u201cEk Naya Din.\u201d\u00a0 Born and raised in New Delhi (India), Anuja immigrated to America as a teenager. She found her passion for writing through her desire to empower her son to be multilingual. Anuja realized the challenge her generation faces in teaching children about their heritage. She founded \u2018Apni heritage\u2019 with the goal of creating multilingual products that will help young parents, like her, teach their native language to the next generation. In her spare time, she loves to cook, and build on her love for Bollywood via movies, music, and dance. <\/span>
<\/b><\/u><\/p>

Below are her social media presence :\u00a0<\/span>
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Instagram :\u00a0<\/b>@apniheritage<\/a><\/div>
Facebook :\u00a0<\/b>https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/apniheritage\/<\/a><\/div>
Website :\u00a0<\/strong>https:\/\/apniheritage.com\/<\/a><\/div>
Email :<\/strong> Anuja@apniheritage.com<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In Picture – Anuja Mohla with her son<\/b><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holiday season is truly the most wonderful time of the year. While most people would agree that the holiday season is magical, some may differ on when that magic begins. It may start around Navratri, Halloween, Diwali, or Christmas depending on which holiday you celebrate, and where you live.  Growing up in Delhi, Diwali was my favorite …<\/p>\n

Celebrating Holidays in a Multicultural Household – Anuja Mohla<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[650,649,648],"class_list":["post-8323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-post","tag-anujamohla","tag-apniheritage","tag-multicultural-household"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/F50CA7FE-C695-4721-8FB3-D648A9F68854.png",1080,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/F50CA7FE-C695-4721-8FB3-D648A9F68854-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/F50CA7FE-C695-4721-8FB3-D648A9F68854-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/F50CA7FE-C695-4721-8FB3-D648A9F68854-768x768.png",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/F50CA7FE-C695-4721-8FB3-D648A9F68854-1024x1024.png",1024,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/F50CA7FE-C695-4721-8FB3-D648A9F68854.png",1080,1080,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/F50CA7FE-C695-4721-8FB3-D648A9F68854.png",1080,1080,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Deepika","author_link":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/author\/deepika-suresh-kumar\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Holiday season is truly the most wonderful time of the year. While most people would agree that the holiday season is magical, some may differ on when that magic begins. It may start around Navratri, Halloween, Diwali, or Christmas depending on which holiday you celebrate, and where you live.  Growing up in Delhi, Diwali was my favorite…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8323"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8344,"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8323\/revisions\/8344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalsofmomma.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}