Xing Nian Kwai Le! Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year from the Blommesteins! It's funny because in the past when this time of year rolls around, at school we are beginning to gear up for Valentine's day and I'm busy with decorating the house with hearts. Lucy (our daycare provider who is Chinese) would ask us what we were doing to celebrate Chinese New Year. I'd sheepishly have to admit my failure as a Chinese mother when it came to teaching my kids some traditions of their Chinese heritage. :) (Picture me hanging my head in shame) 

This year we are learning about China in social studies so it was an obvious choice to learn more about Chinese New Year too. We've had a great time reading, watching videos on YouTube and then trying our own hand at some of the activities. Maddy and Ethan were getting right in the spirit of things: getting their hair cut, cleaning the house and following certain superstitions. Maddy was especially worried about how Josh were fare on the day of the new year because he wouldn't be able to use a knife to cut up his food. Both kids were super excited at the idea of not having to take a bath on new years day too. 

Here are some pictures of things we were up to in preparation for the holiday. We ended up going to my parent's house for dinner on the eve of the new year and then slept over in order to spend more time with the cousins. It was a lot of fun and definitely in the spirit of the family coming back together again under one roof for the holidays.

                                                                        We made our own Jiaozi. Can you tell which ones are Ethans' and Maddy's?
So it seems I'm having some problems with adding captions properly to the photos. In school we made our own Lion Dance costume. Ethan was super excited to get a Chinese outfit of his own this year (Thanks Auntie Jo for picking one up!). And those white lumps are our dumplings we made. They look a little suspicious, but were delicious!



I was feeling pretty good about having taught the kids some things about celebrating Chinese New Year. They happily told Gong Gong and Po Po the story of Nian the Monster and the origin of some of the traditions like red being a lucky colour and the use of firecrackers. I was feeling like I could hold my 'Chinese mother' head up high again. :) Then at dinner, we sat down to the delicious feast Gong Gong and Po Po prepared and just started to eat when both my kids looked to me. They were holding the chopsticks Po Po had set the table with (Not western 'cheater chopsticks', but real chopsticks). They said in unison, "Mama, can I have a fork?"... Back to failure as a Chinese mother! :P (Head hanging in shame). Haha.