come see, come all...

So it's only one more day left till the fresh new clothes are taken off the wardrobe and quilted our skins, I know it sounds corny but~ o well. See we as a family have the old tradition and beliefs when it comes to Chinese New Year (that's most probably what influence me to believe that the new year does not start until we past CNY)

So here are the preparations that we've been getting our hands onto this past couple of days. Me and my mom have been folding the papers that are going to be burnt on the day. The papers represent money and they usually have a gold emboss in the center with a picture of the three Wise Men or some other Chinese related pictures eg. a lotus. These 'money' are usually burnt on some occasions like the CNY or during a funeral or when you are commemorating a person's death. It is believed that these money will be sent to heaven to be given the loved ones that are already gone. But you can just not fold the paper money if you want to but CNY is a special occasion so we've been folding like crazy! The shape that we usually fold it onto is those old chinese gold money thingy it's kinda hard to describe it's mostly like a boat looking money. But this year just because I'm bored, got nothing to do, and trying to do differently I decided to do a lotus. (At the moment coz the system sucked I can't show the pictures so I'll just show it next time) We made (I was helped by my mom but I was the one arranging the paper so it become a lotus ^--^ hehe) 3 full lotus and a flower. It's strange if you don't see the picture but I'll show it next time.

We also have this tradition where we usually put a table of offerings on the front of our home. It is a table full of food ranging from cakes to a whole chicken, a slice of roast pork, fish etc as offerings to the gods. And on the day of CNY we pray with 3 incenses each for our health and future well-beings. It's good coz at the end of the day we can cook the meats and eat the cakes ^--^ and they say that if you eat the food for offerings it will bring you luck too but I believe they just do that so the food won't go to waste hehehe ^--^

The night before CNY we also clean up, change bedcovers and wear new PJs as the tradition goes it is a start of a new year thus everything needs to be new to allow good luck or something or rather (maybe that was just my version of why we have to change into everything new) and it's also said that everything you wear needs to be new too but we don't go as far as changing the eating utensils etc that's just a waste. And the clothes that we wear is usually red. But we can't be bothered, as long as it's new it GREAT! hehehe ^--^

But the greatest thing about CNY is the FEAST! My mom cooks mean food! We traditionally have this food that we only eat once a year coz they are delicacies considered as luxurious food so we only eat them on CNY. But we don't normally have a feast with the whole relatives we just do it on our own terms, so it's more of a family dinner than a feast really. But the amount of food that my mom cooks seems to suggest there is going to be a feast (usually) hehehe ^--^ and anyway my brother eats a lot so I guess it won't go to waste.

And as you all know the tradition also extends to the red envelope. Yup, the most exciting thing about CNY is definitely the red envelope filled with MONEY! ^--^ On the day (which is tomorrow) of CNY we usually go around to our relatives' places, which are usually the oldest relatives which in my case is my Grandma's house where the relatives from my dad's side usually hang out and meet and then we usually visits other relatives too.

And then at the end of the day we just hang around at home. We usually don't have a lot to do during the day so we sometimes just hang out at relatives' places and then that's all that we really do. So... that's all about the Chinese New Year that we as a family do. So if I don't get a chance to say this I'll say it now, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR, GONG XI FA CAI, may all your wishes come true!

Bai bai ^--^