Keong hee huat chye!

Our greetings to you this Chinese New Year! I apologize. My computer won't write in Chinese characters...plus I wouldn't know which ones to use, so you get it in Hokkien. (?) : means "congratulations and be prosperous".

We are starting one of our new traditions in celebrating different cultures holidays.

To start out the Chinese New Year, I swept the floors: symbolizing sweeping away all bad feelings or spirits from the previous year. note: you shouldn't sweep a for few days after, or you may sweep away the good spirits entering your home.

"Painted" our door ways with red (hung red ribbon, decorated with Chinese symbols of what we want to gain as a family); symbolizing good wealth and good fortune.

Made papercutouts and hung them in the window.

We made pork and cabbage dumplings and stuck a yen in one. Who ever gets the yen will have goodluck for the rest of the year.

And we ended our night with our version of a "togetherness tray". It was suppose to include sugared tangerines, waterchestnuts, figs, etc...but we settled for yogurt covered raisins and strawberry mentos. :) my, how cultured we are.

Tonight, we will give our offering to the kitchen god and place honey on his picture, so that he'll give good reports to the other gods when he goes back.

Oh, and Larry got the yen. Here's to making Sergeant this year! :)