You may have read my post about raising ‘Third Culture Kids’ and how, in my opinion, there are some amazing things and some not so amazing things that come with this lifestyle. We try and roll with the adventure and make the most of opportunities as they arise.

We’re always challenged by the “Where are you from?” question. My youngest is probably too young to understand this concept, but if you ask my four year old where she’s from, she’ll say France. It’s her birthplace and the only place she’s ever lived up until this past September.

But that four-year-old of mine is a bright one, and it hasn’t taken her long to pick up on the fact that when we meet new people and they ask us that confusing question, my husband and I give a different answer than she does. We tell her she’s Canadian, just like her Papa and I, but she is also correct- she is from France too.

The challenge for us is that she knows all about France from her life experiences, and the French International School she attends, that is full of little French-born children like herself. But Canada is a bit trickier. She’s had many visits there over the years, but having never lived in her passport country, her understanding of Canada is mainly what she learns from my husband and I, and from our trips overseas in the summer.

I think I may have gotten more patriotic now that I don’t actually live in my birth country. I want to share with my kids all the things I love about Canada so if possible, they can hold the best of the country in their heart, if not in their everyday lives.

When I first saw Maplelea Girls online I squealed in delight and knew I wanted them for my daughters. I was ready to wave the Canadian flag and do shots of maple syrup out of pure excitement of just how Canadian these dolls were. I was so excited for my girls to get their hands on a little piece of Canada from our home in Indonesia!

These dolls screamed Canada and all that we stand for as a country. As I scrolled through the doll options, I saw our culture, our diversity and our customs, all wrapped up into dolls that my daughters would love playing with!

I decided to choose Brianne, because like myself she was a Canadian with Ukrainian roots. Something you might not know about me: I spent 22 years of my life as a Ukrainian dancer.  Anything you do for that long shapes who you are, and when I saw that there was a Ukrainian Canadian doll, I stopped scrolling for other options. She was the doll for us!

Brianne arrived to us in Indonesia tucked away in a box full of surprises. She came dressed in a country girl outfit because she’s from a farm in Manitoba.

The box was quickly torn open and the result was love at first sight for my oldest daughter.

Brianne was quickly involved in our daily activities and she seemed to enjoy Indonesia as I sometimes found her with a flower tucked behind her ear, chilling out in the tropical heat.But my moment of true love for Brianne came when she changed into her Ukrianian dance costume. The information book that comes with Brianne let us know that in the summer she dances in Dauphin, Manitoba at the Ukrainian Festival, just as many of us Ukrainian Canadian kids did, and the moment I saw her sitting on my couch in her costume, she immediately became my favourite doll in the house.

Can you see our resemblance?

Even though she’s ‘just a doll’ I loved that Brianne gave me the opportunity to share part of my life with my daughter since Ukrainian dancing isn’t something she’s been exposed to in France or Indonesia. Our talk may have also led me to pushing aside the carpet to show off some of my old dance moves in the living room; which my girls loved! (I’ve still got it.)

So clearly, the Ukrainian outfit had me loving how unique this doll was, but I never expected my husband to also fall in love! We were in the midst of moving when Brianne arrived, and my husband was off in Congo checking out our soon to be home, so his love came via Skype.

“How do we put all this on?”

Brianne had more hockey gear than we knew what to do with and this suddenly became one doll my husband could handle .

She had shoulder pads, gloves, high socks and all sorts of other gear that was going to have to wait for my husband to get back and properly sort out. But until then her stick sent the tiny puck  flying through the house and through the computer screen, I saw that my husband couldn’t hide that he too thought this doll was pretty cool. After all, he’s been a rink-rat from the time he could walk and it’s the first doll we’ve seen who needs her laces tied up.

So Brianne was a big hit and we were only left with one problem. These dolls are recommended for children 4 and up, but I had one very envious 2.5 year old on my hands, so it looks like we’ll be purchasing a friend for Brianne. The only question is, we can’t decide between Charlsea, the kayaker from BC, Jenna, the highland dancer from Nova Scotia, or Alexi, the city-girl from Toronto.

Our house just got a bit more Canadian and I couldn’t be happier.

This post was written in partnership with Maplelea Girls. All opinions are my own.