The Year of the Dragon

Happy Chinese New Year!  恭禧發財

It is the Year of the Dragon and I am a Dragon.  When reading the Dragon profile I don't think it fits me very well but is probably what I should strive for.

Some background about Chinese New Year.  Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone. 

The fireworks (as annoying as they are for 15 days straight) are really a sight to see.  It is truly amazing.  I will never take a Chinese person to a 4th of July fireworks show...ever!  They would not be impressed. 

Brycen's school had an awesome assembly at the Upper School's newly opened auditorium.  It was so cool...dragon dances, professional yo yo'ing (is that a word), drums and music.  They always put on such a great show.  I would love for Brycen to be able to participate next year (his class was still too young this year) but who knows if we will still be here.

Last year we stayed in Shanghai for CNY (most of that was because I had had a baby 3 weeks earlier) so this year we decided to go on vacation to Singapore.  More on that in another post.