Monday, January 23, 2012

Happy Chinese New Year

新年快乐

xin nian kuai le


Today is the beginning of the Chinese New Year. Today, after Karlie's geography class, we all came home and did a mini-Chinese New Year  unit study. We read about Chinese New Year celebrations in China as well as the one in China town NYC. I decided to let Jolie wear one of her silks today. I let her chose either the blue or the pink. She chose the blue, but she's already outgrown it. So, she wore the pink, even on our errands to the grocery store and to Karlie's dentist. She was quite festive in our travels today. I decided to take a few photos of her. She wore her red one for our family Chinese new year celebration. Here she is with some tangerines.  

These were snapped with my phone and posted with instragram. I just love the filters that I can play with right on my phone.
The serious look...

A little CHeesY grin
A little sass...or let's call it spunk...momma don't allow any sass around here! LOL

This is the year of the Dragon!
I was born in the year of the goat and so was my hubby.

We made our own Chinese New Year Decor. Today we learned/reviewed some Chinese New Year facts:
Chinese New year is a very important holiday in China. It is celebrated in Late January to early February depending on the year.Children are given red envelopes containing money.
Oranges, tangerines, and persimmons should be served. Oranges symbolize luck.
Houses should be decorated in red gold and orange.
 Chinese New year starts on a New Moon and ends with the Lantern festival on the full moon 15 days later.
Since it's the year of the Dragon...Shek went to his treasure chest and brought out a lot of his China treasures purchased last year while we were in China. His little wooden knife has a dragon on it. He also brought out his hand painted fan from the Yellow Crane Tower, and our little statue from the Yellow Crane Tower is there as well. We decorated with tangerines too...and who knew...but our red dining room is in perfect Chinese New Year Decor. 
After school, we headed to the store to get some items for Chinese dumplings. I found a recipe on dashingdish it was very yummy. I made these, but we ordered Chinese take out from our favorite Chinese restaurant, and invited Gam, Pop and Honey too. 
 Jolie changed into her fancy red silks. When Karl got home, he looked at Jolie and said why are you so dressed up? she said I don't know. We all laughed.  Gam brought her handcrafted red bag and filled with a tiny orange and candy. Jolie shared the candy with her sibs.
 Here's the finished dumplings. I made some triangle shaped and tried to fold the others like the won ton package said to fold them. This was probably not an authentic recipe, but they were yummy...just ask Zach. He kept snagging them as fast as I could take them out of the pan.
 Our Chinese New Year Dinner~
won ton soup, chicken low mein, sesame chicken, rice, and dumplings.
 Jolie's treat bag
Jolie wen wen
Just one more photo of a sweet baby girl
 Our Decor
This was my fortune in my cookie. I don't believe in luck and fortunes, but I do like to crack open those cookies just as much as the kids do. 

Our first Chinese New Year with Jolie was really fun.
Happy Chinese New Year to you and yours.

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