My 2 year old daughter, Lizzie, is just starting to become interested in what she wears every day. It was so much fun to put her into the Izumi Dress, from the new Tea East Meets Brazil collection, and watch her animated reaction to the beautiful graphic on the front. I spent a few minutes with her telling her the story of the Japanese Fan Festival, and told her about the “pretty girl” on her dress. She loves to point to the girl on her dress! I love that the dress is soft, comfortable and easy to wash!

Check out this video over at BNET! Meet some of the Tea team and learn about how we use technology to reach you and your little citizens of the world.

Happy holiday season! Right now I’m on the East coast watching a blanket of snow fall. It finally feels like the winter time and a season I associate with memories of family traditions. Because I grew up with parents of different religious backgrounds, December always meant spinning the dreidel, making latkes and opening stockings stuffed by Santa.

This week we have some great posts about the holiday season. We’ve included some last minute shopping ideas from Tea. We also have reflections on this season and family traditions from both Sheila Lammers and Katherine Bose. Lori Chaplin also gives a great tip for creating an heirloom for your little citizens.

We hope you have a great holiday week!

The Editor

If you’re still scrambling to do your holiday shopping, we have some great sales at Tea Collection on fun dresses, perfect layering pieces and even full sets. We also have some gift ideas here if you’re in need of inspiration. Head on over here to browse and see some of these favorites on sale:

The Hanne Sweater Dress Set is a warm and soft dress with a fun, feminine style.

The Zoe 6-Piece Set (at left) includes three fun dresses and matching leggings to layer.

The Lucas 5-Piece Set is a great one for the winter with a long sleeve Panda bodysuit, and warm layers to put on over it including pants, a button up and a rugby stripe hat.

The Stalheim Fairisle Pullover: Inspired by a Norwegian artisans blanket, this sweater is perfect for bundling up on cold winter days.

I walked into my friend’s house one day and noticed a huge wonderful oil painting of a mother and a father standing with two children standing in front of them and a small child on peeking over the shoulder of the father. I told my friend Liz, “Wow I love that painting, is that new?” She replied “No. That is my family; I am the one on my dad’s back. We had it done when we were little and my mom just gave it to me.” I thought how wonderful that piece of art was and how nice to have it passed down.

Recently I was in a business in San Francisco that had an installation of local artists paintings and I fell in love with one of the artists style. I initially thought it would be great if he could do a portrait of my 5-year-old daughter, Olivia. That is when I had my epiphany. I contacted the artist and commissioned him to do a family portrait. The key was that he is a local budding artist so he is affordable. While I was creating a memory for her I decided to incorporate a fantastic family journey we experienced, hoping to further instill her experience in Egypt from her then 4-year old mind. Now she sees the painting on a daily basis and couldn’t possibly forget sharing a camel with her father while riding next to her mother on her camel in the Sahara desert past the Pyramids of Egypt and the Great Sphinx. I can visualize 40 years in the future, my daughter explaining to her friend “that is me, the little one sitting in my dad’s lap.”

Travel is on my mind this week as cold weather makes its way to Northern California. I’m dreaming of having Thanksgiving in the sun instead of on the snowy East Coast. A lot of our writers this week are nostalgic for their travels and offer up some great tips and ideas on places to go next with your little citizens.

In TRAVEL, Deanna Ferrante talks about a cross cultural experience in Japan and Dana Lightstone tells the story of a multi-generational family trip to Costa Rica. In CURIOSITY Katherine Bose offers a wonderful reflection on Halloween and over in STYLE Lori Chaplin shares some great picture taking trips you can use at home or abroad.

Happy travel dreaming!

The Editor

We loved this post from Jen L over at Go Get Your Jacket:

Remember Garanimals? They were sets of clothes that were matched by a color or an animal so that you always knew what shirt went with which pants. If the tigers or whatever on the tags matched, then the clothes did, too.

A lot of people made fun of Garanimals. They became a punchline, usually invoked when a grown man looked like he’d been dressed by two different people, both of whom were blind. In the dark.

Not me. If they’d been offered when I was a kid, I think I would have snapped them up. As it is, when I discovered a more upscale version for my own child, I was deee-lighted.

I had just ordered a whole bunch of fall clothes (some from my friend Eliza’s company The Pink Giraffe), when I received the fall catalogue from Tea Collection. Now I’m itching to pull out my credit card for a five-piece ensemble called the Cooper set for William. It consists of a tiger long-sleeved t-shirt, a monkey long-sleeved t-shirt (bonus for the monkey), a striped hoody, a pair of cargo pants and a pair of ticking stripe pants. Five pieces for $105, which ends up being $21 per piece, which, you know if you’ve bought nice children’s clothes recently, is not a bad deal.

And here’s the best part: they all go together! You can wear the monkey shirt with the ticking stripe pants OR the cargo pants, or even put the hoodie on, too. Woot! Let me just give a big shout out to pre-matching clothes. I have rudimentary accessorizing skills at best. I sometimes put outfits together and then stare dubiously at them: “Does that look good together? Is that the same shade of green? Will the preschoolers laugh my child off the playground if I dress him in these two pieces at the same time?” Usually I do okay, but the doubt is always there, lingering at the back of my mind.

So this more sophisiticated modern-day version of Garanimals is just my speed. It doesn’t hurt that the clothes are absolutely adorable. Adorable clothes for little boys that won’t make me doubt my own sartorial prowess (or lack thereof). Here’s my MasterCard.

Note: Garanimals has? have? actually staged a comeback, but they’re no Tea Collection.

Welcome to the Tea Blog, a conversation about raising a growing generation of global citizens. We hope you stay and explore all the wonderful stories Tea parents are sharing about their little citizens and the world they’re growing in.

At Tea, we’ve been talking about these little citizens of the world since the company started six years ago. Season after season we bring a little bit of the world into our collections, sending our design team around the globe to find inspiration that makes the foreign a little more familiar.

This summer, the Tea team is excited that so many people are joining us in this conversation about raising little global citizens.

Need help navigating your way through our writer’s inspiring stories? Our blog is divided into several categories:

CURIOSITY includes articles about how parents are introducing a global perspective into their children’s lives. Wander on into CURIOSITY to learn about Katherine Bose studying Mandarin with her toddler.

HERITAGE explores where we come from and how our family roots can reach far and wide. Check out Africa Fine’s stories of raising a bi-cultural family and Kathleen Cantrell’s post on keeping her Italian heritage alive in her kitchen.

INSIDE TEA is a place where you can get to know our Tea family a little better. Here people in our company contribute their perspective on life at Tea. Tea offers an international travel allowance that has sent our team far and wide. Read all about Leah’s trip to Greece, especially idyllic because it was her honeymoon!

In RECOMMENDATIONS, I will post your recommendations for things you’ve found help you raise your little citizens of the world. So far, we have a book recommendation from Stephanie Precourt and a bassinet Cindy McLaughlin thinks is great for travel. We hope to make this a go-to place for anyone looking for tips for globally-minded parents!

STYLE is all about children’s clothing. At Tea, we believe that because children’s clothing is a part of everyday life it has the power to reflect both our values the beauty found across the world. In STYLE we will post stories of our globally minded clothes and how they’re shaping the stories of little citizens everywhere.

TRAVEL is all about travel. We at Tea have found these stories so inspiring! Beware: they may move you to take out a notebook and start planning your next international adventure right away! The postings here include everything from travel tips to reflections on globe hopping with little citizens. We hope TRAVEL will become a rich resource for parents looking to share the globe with their kids.

We are so excited to have you join our conversation! Feel free to comment on articles that move you, contact us with ideas on how we can grow, and raise your hand if you’d like to become a writer. We’d love to have you share your stories with the Tea community!

We can’t wait to see this conversation flower, unfolding into a space where parents can share their ideas and experiences and ultimately enrich the lives of the little citizens everywhere.

The Editor

As an employee of Tea, it is evident how much emphasis is put on making the foreign familiar. I have seen the world through my Tea travel allowance in both the countries of Costa Rica (2007) and now Greece (2008). This program brings us all closer together as employees since we have the ability to venture to distant lands and experience the beauty of new people.

I decided to visit Greece in June as I was fascinated by the history as well as the seaside landscape and warm people. My first stop was in Athens where narrow roads and stone walkways winded throughout the urban sprawl. The Acropolis was a strong sight sitting upon a hill. The columns and ancient art were magical.

I then took a ferry to the island of Mykonos where I thoroughly enjoyed the beaches and white and blue buildings. The people were fun, fashionable and full of life. The pita sandwiches and olives were amazing.

The village of Oia in Santorini (my next stop pictured above) was truly dreamy. The Caldera was breathtaking. The steep cliffs and winding stairs were an architectural feat. My room was actually built into a cave, a sort of rustic paradise. The white and blue domed churches were numerous and incredible. The local art vendors were a real treat. I ended up purchasing some painted dinner plates in hues of blues, greens, whites, and yellows. The scrolled design will always remind me of my time there. I was lucky enough to meet a local man who grew up on the island. He was one with the sea and took me out on his boat to see the volcano and swim in the ocean hot springs. The black rock and red sulfur mud reminded me of the power of the earth….a memory I will not soon forget. The old ruins of a castle, the sunsets, and the wine country were truly incredible. I loved meeting the locals and sharing in their meal traditions. A restaurant owner shared about his life on the island as well as his distant relatives in America. We learned from each other and I shared my experiences too.

My final stop was Crete where the mountains intersect with valleys of olive trees and amazing coastline. I was amazed with the diverse landscape. I remember driving by an elderly man sitting at his family owned olive oil stop. It was evident that the olive trees were a way of life for him. I made a stop in Hania where I had an authentic lunch in a little restaurant tucked away in the pebble paved streets. When I walked into the place the floor was sunken low and tiled in a square shape. I learned that it used to be an ancient Turkish bath! What a cool place to have lunch!

Greece is full of life in both the present and the past. The art, music, food, warm people, architecture, and water were more than I could have dreamed about. There was truly so very much to be inspired by!