Gung Hay Fat Choy (a la Chinese time)

So I'm a little late in wishing everyone a Happy CNY! But hey, I'm good according to "Chinese time"!

DH and I are both ABC, American-born Chinese. In fact, my dad is also ABC, but he does a great job of helping us to carry on as much tradition as possible. Here's a peak into our home during this time of the year. In preparation for CNY, we first close the year with a special dinner. My dad, being the chef that he is does all the cooking! My job is to eat.

This is pork, that typically people would buy, but my Dad has mastered his own recipe. The skin is crispy and it's quite tasty dipped in oyster sauce!

 

And, noodles, a common dish for long life - these clear, sort of slimy noodles are so yummy!

 

My favorite - black mushrooms. Gracyn loves these!

 

Of course, you can't forget the rice!

 

We have oranges and tangerines all over the house, including the bedrooms.

 

Here's the duck. Yes, that's its head! Suprisingly the kids didn't even notice or ask if it was one the ducks we go feed on a regular basis!

 

And of course, there's chicken, and yes, that's its head AND its heart in its mouth.

 

Lycee, red envelopes, are given to all "single" people, no matter the age. For our kids, we place them under their pillows the night before CNY!

 

Late night before CNY my dad begins preparing "Ji" (rhymes with eye), an all vegetarian dish for breakfast, (lunch and dinner too, if you can handle it) on CNY. Gracyn decided to hang around the kitchen and munch on the snow peas!

 

 

 

 

Dad chopping away.

 

Gracyn taste testing. AGAIN. She must have eaten at least a half dozen snow peas. Well, I must confess, I helped her round that off to a full dozen!

 

The tofu preparation made Gracyn's eyes light up, watching the sizzle and steam!

 

And, well, I have no cute photos of them in Chinese gear, but I do have these silly photos of them having fun the night before CNY. Our rule on CNY, no arguing. . .so playing and DANCING to HM is great thing before going to bed.

 

 

 

 

So for us, no washing of hair on CNY, no meat on CNY, and we enjoy "Ji". (Which really is more associated with Buddhist practice.) But we're not hard core, we do bathe! And I cheat by washing my hair the night before and just getting it wet in the shower the next morning, just no suds! And as much as Peyton loves his bath time, he was excited to come home yesterday and put on his PJ's. (I let him use the excuse of no bath and no washing of his hair.) He still smells good. I did a sniff check.

We are so happy to have Gracyn home for her first CNY with us. I have no idea if this is even remotely similar to how she celebrated in Taiwan. Last year we sent her lycee to her in a care package, and I actually have a photo of her holding it. And she loves the "Ji" which isn't a surprise when it comes to Gracyn because she seems to embrace all Chinese food. But typically kids aren't too fond of the dish. She also insisted on eating with chopsticks, and not the baby ones, the long wooden ones. In fact, she always eats more if I feed her with chopsticks. We enjoyed the closing and the opening of the Chinese New Year, and are looking forward to the other dinners in which we'll be celebrating with extended family. Oh, and that's when the kids get to "collect" all of their red envelopes! Our kids have a lot of relatives that are married, so they get more than they can count! As a kid, that's the fun part!

Whether our traditions are right or wrong by the book, they're our family's traditions. Exactly the way I remember them growing up. I hope these live on through the generations to come.

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY to you and yours! May the Year of the Ox be a prosperous and healthy one for all!