Chinese New Year - Annual NRV-Families with Children from China

Every year we invite all our local friends who have adopted children from China as well as others who have some relationship to China and/or our children.  This year we celebrated the Year of the Tiger on Feb 20.  Chinese New Year (CNY) is a two week celebration. It begins with the first new moon after the full moon that follows winter solstice.  CNY started on Feb 14 this year.  It ends with the Lantern Festival which is also the full moon.  It is always special to me because it is when we were in China meeting B.

We usually have crafts, especially since the children are getting older. The oldest one of our bunch is about 12 or 13 years old.  The youngest is about 24 months.  The party includes food, a lion dance, bubble wrap stomp (instead of firecrackers) and red envelopes.

J.T. decorating his craft.

Final result of some of our artwork. Many thanks to A.M. for lending us her wonderful Chinese stamps.

Food!  We usually have traditional noodles, dumplings and less traditional foods - but delicious and creative none-the-less. We've gotten pretty good at making Nian Gao - Chinese New Year cake made with glutenous rice flour. We use peanuts and raisins in ours which add a little salt to our cake.  This year we also did a chocolate chip-pecan nian gao.

Dumplings!  People traditionally eat lots of dumplings for New Years because they resemble gold nuggets and that would bring prosperity to the family.  Eating long noodles brings long life to parents.  There are lots of fun Chinese New Year traditions, new clothes, not sweeping on New Year's Day so you don't sweep out good luck, fire crackers, etc., etc.

The group!

Lion Dance. We made this great lion head a few years ago and it just keeps on going. We fix it up a little bit each year.  Several kids got to be "first" and the others followed behind walking through the family room, dining room and kitchen and back in again to the cacophonous banging of everyone else.

This year we invited the children who sang at Chinese New Year - Virginia Tech program to do a repeat performance.

They sang the Tiger Song and a couple of others.  If I can figure out how to upload videos here again I will.

Here the older kids are getting ready to stomp on large bubble wrap - the sound is almost exactly like fire crackers and much safer.

Stomping!

 Little kids stomping!

Red envelopes - the children wish each of their parents and/or grandparents and/or senior person a Happy New Year and the parent/grandparent/senior person gives them a gift of a red envelop.  In seriously Chinese families with serious red envelopes this can add up to quite a bit of money.  At our celebration there were a $1 coin in each envelop, chocolate coins in another and a dollar bill in a third.

Grandma B., Boboa G. and C. handed out red envelopes to some of the girls.

B. receiving her red envelopes.  

Chinese New Year is a holiday we look forward to each year.  It ends our holiday season which starts with Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas and New Years.

Russia and Faberge Eggs

January 7 2010 we read about the last Czar of Russia Nicholas II and his family and their demise, and learned a little about Faberge Eggs while we were at it. Here is our attempt at fancy eggs:

 

The egg in the middle is a real egg, whereas the two on the sides are plastic Easter Eggs.

J.'s egg

 

B.'s egg

One view.

J.'s baby picture.

B.'s baby picture

View from the top.  The "jewels" are stick on gems from our local hobby store.

Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas! We usually wait until later in the season to put the tree up but because the girls are so excited this year we decided to just go ahead and do it.

A number of years ago I was given the star that used to be on top of my grandparents tree because they have a special memory. I was born in December and they were doing the tree when my father called them to tell them I was born. They were putting the star on top. As I grew up it became my job to put the star on top of the tree and it still is. This what is left of a very old Christmas Star.


I created this star before I received the other star. It is pretty simple - squished up aluminum foil arranged with a rose. Sometimes I even slip a little tree light into the middle. It pairs up very nicely with the other star - one on each side.

This little bell has been on the tree for many years and makes the loveliest little tinkling sound.

This doll from India is from my California days when I would have a little Christmas Open House and Tree Decorating gathering. A dear friend from India contributed this beautiful ornament. My grandparents traveled the world and brought back ornaments from all over. This became a first non-grandparent international ornament.

I went through a Teddy Bear phase in my youth. This bear above is a remnant of those days and always sits just below the stars on the tree.

We have several birds on the tree. The peacock ornament is a recent addition and often gets lost on the tree because the green/green-blue is so close to the color of the tree. This year I decided to put it near the top of the tree so we would notice the silhouette. There is also an amazing wood bird, and several origami cranes.

The angel above used to be on my grandparents tree. When my grandmother died a few years ago we six cousins and our parents equitably divided up their Christmas tree ornaments. Each of us took turns and selected ornaments that meant something to us.
The snowman is a recent addition from B.s Girls Scout troop ornament exchange.

This crystal snowman was this year's addition from the Girls Scout ornament exchange.

This little manger ornament is a miracle in that we haven't lost the baby. Every year it goes on the tree and the baby repeatedly falls out and we repeatedly find it and put it back in.

A favorite theme of ours in China. Not long after we returned from China with J. an internet group of moms who had adopted from China, had an ornament exchange. The next few ornaments are some of those gifts.

Dragon

Porcelein doodad.

Cloisonne panda

Cloisonne teapot

Chinese Minority dolls

Unknown knitted doll and cloisonne ball with poinsettia.

This little Santa Claus still works. I remember it being at my grandparents house when I was much younger. It plays various Christmas carols and rings a bell.

This was a prize my Mom found at a second hand store. It also plays music.

Here is the completed tree with some early presents under it courtesy of B. who has been busy creating presents from recyclables and other things. Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christ filled Christmas!

Famiy Tree - Family Home Evening

I found a wonderful photograph of my parent's wedding and was able to get the faces of most of my great grandparents, all my grandparents and both my parents - all on the same day and in the same place. I added more photographs and there was a fun Family Tree activity. Each us made one. Mine is above.

B.s family tree

J.s family tree. They are now all posted on our doors for the time being.