Happy New Year!

February 7 begins the Chinese New Year and this is the Year of the Rat. For about the next two weeks, China will celebrate the New Year, a tradition that goes back thousands of years with a story of urban legend caliber involving, of course, a human hunting monster. This monster lived in a cave and remained pretty quiet all year. Now here I must say is where I get lost in interpreting a year according to Chinese tradition, as it is based on lunar cycles and equinoxes and is all a little confusing. So let's just say that around this time of the year, as the new moon approached, the monster would leave his cave in search of human flesh. The humans would fight this monster in fierce battle and by using the color red, a color of luck in China and one that frightened the monster. Once the battle was over, and again here I am not sure if the monster simply retreats until next year or if it is defeated, all those who survived would celebrate together and spend the next couple weeks visiting one another to find out who survived and who did not. In modern day China, much of the country seems to shut down at this time of year to spend time celebrating with family and friends, much like what we do here at Christmas. So to join in the celebration and learn a little more about Chinese culture, we attended a New Year celebration the the Chinese Student Association put together at the university. We were somewhat disappointed in the food selection, as they ran out of the promised entree by 6:30 and had to order more food. I had been anxious to try some authentic Chinese dishes, but the disorganization of the event left many many people standing in line to get last minute ordered food from a local Chinese place that was what I considered American-Chinese. Only the people who arrived extremely early got the real Chinese food. When we left at 8 pm, there were still people standing in line to get this American-Chinese food.....But the entertainment was fun and made me forget this loss. They began with a slide show of scenes of China, which made me excited to travel there, and on to the Chinese drums, which helped Leo find his rhythm--that boy loves to dance! Our favorite was the Lion Dance, which I had always thought were dragons but now stand corrected. The "lion" must solve a puzzle, and this usually involves a head of lettuce, often filled with a prize of some sort. As the lion approaches the lettuce, it finally decides to eat it, chewing it up and spewing it out on the audience along with candy. Leo was right up front and totally in awe of the colors and the music, as was I until I got pelted in the eye with candy--all in good fun! Thus begins our celebration of the Year of the Rat, and this exposure to a new culture that will soon be part of our family has caused me to realize that we don't really celebrate the other cultures that make up our family. So I now have a goal of cooking at least one traditional meal a month from each of the different cultures that make up our family--I'll let you know how that goes. Just a few tidbits on the Rat year, it is a time of hard work, activity and renewal. This is a good year to begin a new job, get married (yay Cassie and Lou!) and make a fresh start. The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, let things develop slowly, and make the most of everything you can find. People born in a rat year are said to be logical realists, shrewd, charming, ambitious, family-minded and inventive. In China, the rat is respected and considered courageous (go figure! Now I know why they scare me). So I know this is all quite wordy, but thought our new knowledge interesting enough to share.
We had a great weekend overall, beginning with our swim playgroup on Saturday where Leo had a great time in the water and playing with a new friend, Aiden. We have gotten much snow this weekend, a nice dry snow that I'm sure would be great for skiing if I knew how! Maybe next year. Today we will have to make snow angels and go sledding. Hope you are all happy, healthy and well!