Happy Chinese New Year!

I must be getting old and losing my head! All along this past week, I've been telling the kids of the upcoming Chinese New Year falling on 1/28 (Wed), but to find out from Tracy C. that it's actually on 1/26 (Mon). Thank goodness that her family came over last night or else I would be calling my parents a few days late, and that would be terrible.

I love Chinese New Year. It reminds me of my mom. Mom is a traditional Chinese woman. She likes making authentic Chinese dishes for special occassion - such as turnip pudding, red bean pudding, "tong yuen" and vegetable dishes (tsai) for Chinese New Year; and of course her famous rice dumpling for the Dragon Boat Festival.

Mom not only make delicious Chinese dishes, she is also the "BEST cleaning person", or a clean freak (Haha... a name my brother and dad call her, and I hate to disagree more!). When I was young, mom and I would do a deep cleaning around the house as the New Year approached. This is absolutely not just a regular chores, it's an intense workout for the both of us! What I mean by that? Imagine cleaning all the cabinets, refrigerator, bathroom, bedrooms, windows, and doors inside out, from dusting to mopping, from ceiling to the floor. Then, the changing of bedsheets and a fresh coat of paint to the front door etc... To make my point, the house has to be spotless before the first day of the Chinese New Year.

As a kid, I often felt dragged by all these cleaning chores. But, now that I am older and have my own children; I realize how lucky I am to have a loving mom who taught me all these wonderful traditions, and how important it is for me to carry these traditions to my children.

So, what have we done in the past few days?? Having a Chinese New Year feast and the elbow grease cleaning, of course!!! Oh yeah, I love this festival and the fact that I could have a clean house is definitely a PLUS! Thanks, mom! :)