Happy New Year to me!!!!!

[M&M's Mommy]

M&M's Mommy, Lilith Cherry! Happy New Year, a wish for joy and prosperity! One of the men in my choir at church is Chinese-American, so he is going to bring some photos and tell us a little about the New Year celebration at tonight's rehearsal. He invited us all to wear something red - I'm thinking that's part of the festivities too.

Yes. Red is considered a lucky color.

Thanks for your good wishes. The Lunar New Year ("Tet" in Vietnamese) is very important to us. You can think of it as a combination of the most important Western holidays: Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Memorial Day & the spirit of Christmas!. Tet is when families get together to give thanks to God, and celebrate the elders. Those who've been deceased will be remembered & honored. Their gravesides will be visited by all members of the family.. It's when everyone who's living apart from their families during the year will come home.

There are certain types of food we only eat or certain things we only do during Tet (which will be celebrated for many days to a month). Tet is when one's house is at the cleanest, his debts are defered or paid off before the new year so he start anew, it's when broken relationships are mended, and everyone will be joyous around each other..

[Taz_Zoee]

Happy New Year!! I just love reading/hearing about different traditions.
You will have a fun, but very busy weekend.

[pitc9]

Happy New Year to you both, and anyone else celebrating!

[kimlovescats]

Sounds like quite a celebration! Happy and Healthy New Year to you and yours!

[phesina]

Happy New Year to you, your family, and all the others celebrating!

[M&M's Mommy]

I am glad to report that I've survived the holidays & now I'm all tired *yawns*

We selled out ~$300 in lucky envelopes to our nieces & nephews on all 4 sides of the family! In return, hubby & I both got $50 each from our parents -so we made $200 total!!, plus my grandmother gave each of us $10. So all together we have $220 in our pockets at one point!! - Unfortunately we lost most of it over a blackjack game at my sister-in-law's house yesterday. Playing blackjack is also one of the Tet tradition for every family, as even the littlest member has $1 bill in their hands & it's one way to try our luck in the new year! . Our 10 year-old niece was the biggest winner this year. Starting out with $5, she ended up with $93!! (half of that was lost to her from us, the other half was from her parents or her other aunties/cousins!!
I don't think she's ever been more happy in her life!!!