Happy Chinese New Year!!!

My neighbor is so sweet!
She is celebrating the new year today.
She brought over little Chinese treats for the kids, some Chinese coconut butter cookies that I love and the most beautiful plate...

no matter what angle I took the picture at I got shine. I am gonna have to work on that because it does not do this plate justice.
I really enjoy this particular neighbor. She is in her 80's and full of spunk! Some days we have difficultly expressing our thoughts to each other since we speak two different languages. We have been visiting and such for about 8 years now and she has been bringing little things over for the Chinese New Year for the last 4. I really have never learned anything about the New Year celebrations in China before. I knew that they had one and it was on different days than ours and never on the same day but that was it. Never thought to look it up even.
Now that we home school, I took this as an opportunity to learn from a woman from China about one of their celebrations.

Here is some of what we learned.




Before the new year begins there are things you need to do.
Clean your house from top to bottom. This is to welcome in the new year like you would a guest.
You make sure you buy red envelopes for your younger family members (nieces, nephews, grandkids...) and put a brand new dollar in each one. You need 2 envelopes per child.
Make sure that you have no problems with any loved ones before the New Year. Deal with whatever may be causing conflict so that you start your New Year off right.
Lastly, pay off all your bills (ha ha! I like that one!) so you start your year off free of debt.

Then New Year's Day, instead of staying up to watch the clock count down and kiss some one, she says that they open up all their windows and doors to be sure that the good luck of the New Year finds them. Brrrr. Last night was really cold too. I hope she just opened them for a second. She said if she was in China that all the children have a lantern festival. They each get their own lantern and have a parade to welcome in the New Year. I bet that is amazing!!

Then today is all about the good luck.
She will get out her new red outfit. Everyone in her family will have something new and red, gold or orange to wear for luck today. The colors all stand for something and I don't remember what but the idea was for luck and prosperity in the new year.
They will have oranges and tangerines to share with friends (we got some) and family.They are supposed to symbolize good health and long life.
They will also share round candies (got those to) to symbolize togetherness.
She will have dinner with her son's and eat fish and noodles that are to symbolize long life and prosperity.
Now is when you pass out the red envelopes to the children in your family too. Each child gets two envelopes because you are passing down to the next generation happiness and that only comes in two's.

Now I am not sure that all people in China celebrate this way, but this is how my sweet little eighty year old neighbor described it to us. I think that it sounds lovely. I think that we will be looking things up today to learn just a little bit more about it. Maybe even go get a basket and fill it with oranges for her. Now that I understand the holiday, I can appreciate the gifts she has been sharing even more.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!