Gung Hei Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year! Technically it started yesterday, but we've been running around doing family stuff for the holiday, as usual. Once again we waited until the last minute to prep, too, so Willy and I are both a little exhausted.

We got back late Wednesday night from a trip to Arizona to visit Willy's mom. Then on Thursday I had an interview that I spent most of the day prepping for. Friday I had to go into work and do a different phone interview, and then realized I had a LOT to do by Saturday night. See, the Chinese are very superstitious and the house is supposed to be spotless for a clean start to the new year, only you aren't allowed to do any real cleaning once the new year starts, which was Sunday. So, long story short, after leaving work on Friday I had to go to the bank to get lai see money; buy oranges, clementines, and snacks; and start doing as full a scrub of the house as possible. After dusting, sweeping, cleaning the bathrooms, vaccuuming, and scrubbing the floors on hands & knees, we went to bed at 4am Saturday morning. Poor Willy, dealing with my Chinese guilt and customs :P

Saturday night we had an awesome end-of-the-year meal with a bunch of family. Lobster, conch, abalone with shitake mushrooms/sea cucumbers/napa cabbage, pheasant, chicken, stuffed fish, yu choy, a Chinese-style celery "burrito", two kinds of soup...I think I'm forgettng some stuff, but can I just say YUM?! Do you see why this is one of my favorite holidays ever? :)

Yesterday we ran around doing the traditional home visits. First stop was back to my parents' house for a vegetarian lunch, followed by the handing out of lai see (red envelopes with money). Then the entire family descended on my grandpa's room at the nursing home; it's a good thing he doesn't currently have a roommate, would have been tough to fit 16 people in just half that room. Finally, my immediate family came over to our house. We ended the day with 4 hours of volleyball :P

Today we're headed to my parents' place again, for a New Year's opening meal (yes, it's all about the food, as usual). The celebration continues into next weekend when we do the family visit at my aunt & uncle's house--and have more yummy Chinese New Year food, haha!

If you wanna see your Chinese horoscopes for the year, this link seems good. My horoscope seems pretty positive overall, especially in the area of work, so I have high hopes!