Gong Hay Fat Choy! Chun Jie Kuai Le!
Happy New Year!!
We had a fun first Chinese New Year as a family. This is the big holiday in China --also known as the Spring Festival, since the weather is supposed to warm up after CNY. It's now the Year of the Ox in China. I wonder what this year will bring, since AK was born in the Year of the Pig, and the Year of the Rat was when she came home to us.
The day itself was pretty ordinary-- it was a teacher workday for us, so I took the day off and scheduled several appointments for me and Mark. AK went to daycare because all of our appointments were definitely no fun for a one-year-old, which means it would be nearly impossible for the parents of the one-year-old to get everything done! Mark ended up going in to school for a couple of hours anyway, so we met at lunch and had a productive afternoon.
I have to admit, we were pretty light on the CNY traditions this year. Honestly, we just don't have the time or budget right now to do a lot of extras and some of my ideas had to be put on the back burner for another year. Fortunately, AK is really too young to be super-interested in holiday books, movies and decorations, or to help me make treats and crafts. I'm glad we have years ahead to add to our CNY traditions! I thought we had a great celebration anyway, because we spent it with Allison, David and Maggie last night.
In honor of the holiday, AK wore her red "Made in China" t-shirt to "school" (we bought it in Guangzhou and it's barely been worn so it's practically new, despite the fact that I managed to get bleach on the side of the shirt-- not too noticeable) to "school" and I wore a favorite red turtleneck sweater. We headed over to the Maladys for supper and festivity, in the form of playing with the girls, watching the CNY episode of "Ni H*ao, Kai-L*an" and just hanging out. We ate a yummy dinner of orange beef, Hunan chicken, sticky rice, spring rolls, Jiaozi (dumplings), and Buddha's Delight. (Yay for take-out!! No cooking is a fabulous holiday!!)
The day itself was pretty ordinary-- it was a teacher workday for us, so I took the day off and scheduled several appointments for me and Mark. AK went to daycare because all of our appointments were definitely no fun for a one-year-old, which means it would be nearly impossible for the parents of the one-year-old to get everything done! Mark ended up going in to school for a couple of hours anyway, so we met at lunch and had a productive afternoon.
I have to admit, we were pretty light on the CNY traditions this year. Honestly, we just don't have the time or budget right now to do a lot of extras and some of my ideas had to be put on the back burner for another year. Fortunately, AK is really too young to be super-interested in holiday books, movies and decorations, or to help me make treats and crafts. I'm glad we have years ahead to add to our CNY traditions! I thought we had a great celebration anyway, because we spent it with Allison, David and Maggie last night.
In honor of the holiday, AK wore her red "Made in China" t-shirt to "school" (we bought it in Guangzhou and it's barely been worn so it's practically new, despite the fact that I managed to get bleach on the side of the shirt-- not too noticeable) to "school" and I wore a favorite red turtleneck sweater. We headed over to the Maladys for supper and festivity, in the form of playing with the girls, watching the CNY episode of "Ni H*ao, Kai-L*an" and just hanging out. We ate a yummy dinner of orange beef, Hunan chicken, sticky rice, spring rolls, Jiaozi (dumplings), and Buddha's Delight. (Yay for take-out!! No cooking is a fabulous holiday!!)
The girls got red envelopes with the traditional gift of money from Allison and David, and my mom sent along little red silk boxes with money in them as her CNY gift to them. They were excited to open all their loot! (Thanks, Nana!!)
After dinner, Allison and I thought it would be fun to get the girls dressed in their silk dresses and have a little photo shoot. Maggie, who is 3 and generally a very compliant child, bounced upstairs and had her dress on in a flash. AK, who was incredibly overtired due to a big weekend, a long day at daycare, and only a half hour nap, began pitching a royal fit as soon as Mark and I started wrestling her into her dress. Turned out that I missed opening a snap and a zipper, and the dress probably was squeezing her a bit. Ooops. Also, she has apparently outgrown her size 1 silk outfits and now wears a size 2. Thank goodness I brought a backup outfit!
The photo session was as usual, a real show...
Could they BE any cuter?? (Go visit Allison's blog for more cuteness!)
2 comments:
Not at all. They're absolutely at the TOP of the cute-ometer! Thanks for the update. Luv those little teeth! What fun ya'll had! :) Jane
Went real light on the celebrations ourselves, for many of the same reasons! I had been feeling a tad guilty that I didn't prep more, but we've had two rounds of strep, sinus infections, colds and unexpected other days off, etc. since our American New Year and I'm brain dead from it all!
We celebrated with our agency at a local buffet for lunch - was more than we could afford but couldn't get anything else together! And it was fun to see all the families we've been in contact with via our agency chat group.
Happy New Year!!!
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