Gong Hay Fat Choy!

There's no doubt about it - despite teaching my son how to articulately express his Chinese New Year greetings in Mandarin with gong xi fa tsai! - the Cantonese version is much more fun to type and say... gong hay fat choy!!!!!

I am so ecstatic about Chinese New Year.  Ever since Jordan was born, I've been excited about sharing the story of the Chinese Zodiac and the Monster Nian, as I remember hearing it so many times at Chinese School growing up.  I also have been excited about having an excuse to share a bit of my culture with my son, who let's face it, will be American.  There's something about knowing your culture will slowly disappear into the melting pot of America that makes it kind of neat to celebrate and learn about.  There's also a certain amount of appreciation I have for how less common being Chinese is when you aren't living in Arcasia or LA, how little people seem to know about Chinese food and traditions, and how much I want to remember it all.

Chinese lion dancing...?  Seen it, been there, done that.. big whooop.  Chinese yo-yo's?  Seen it, been there, done that.. big whooop.  Chinese ribbon tying?  Seen it, been there, done that.. big whooop.  Stinky tofu?  Seen it, been there, done that, watched my cousin puke when he got a whiff of it... big whoooop.  8 treasure rice?  Yeah yeah... lobster noodles?  Yeah yeah... sesame ricballs? ... what's new.  BBQ pig... roasted duck... what's new.

But outside of Arcasia (and probably Fluschings New York), it really is not as common!  It really is kind of a big deal.

Have I told you how lucky I am to be in Salt Lake?  How much family we have here to celebrate with us?  After a year without a real Chinese New Year celebration, today was just what I needed.  We started off New Year's Eve (that's when our family celebrates.. always) by having a party with Andy's cousin and her three kids (with boys ages 4, 2 and a girl about 2 months... oh and another Chinese friend I made randomly in Salt Lake too) eating dumplings, green onion pancake, freshly made soy milk (she made it, not me), almond cookies and clementines, coloring a horse photo, opening lucky red envelopes and playing together.  And that wasn't even the end of it!  For dinner, Andy's mom got the entire family together for some amazing Chinese food and then we even got fireworks too (because in case you didn't know, we're connected to a firework VIP)?!  uh---mazing!  Terrific!  Wonderful! I was sooo stoked!!!!

So gong hay fat choy!  Hope you have a year full of prosperity and good fortune.

NOTE: Still learning my camera, had it on auto but apparently it was too slow for my son's insane movements.  Also, the toilet paper rolls - a craft we never got to - making Chinese firecrackers.