Chinese New Year - January 23rd

Happy Chinese New Year! Yes, I am early, but since we are getting ready now, thought I would share....
We will be celebrating by holding a special celebration in AA's classroom the end of January and going to our FCC Chapter's celebration on February 4th. The two week celebration is all about family and paying respect to elders, having a special meal with parents and grandparents. We enjoy putting together a gift bag for each child and hand out many red envelops to other children. We love going to P.F. Chang and learning a few more Chinese words.

Here are some links that will give you plenty of information about the Year of the Dragon.
Panda Express has a great offer you can't go wrong ordering.
And don't ever forget one of my favorite blogs and her great CNY links - Our Little Tongginator!
And our prior posts.....we posted on where to get ideas for your celebration last year in 2011 and 2010.
This year, AA has outgrown all the outfits we purchased while in China in 2008. I found this two-piece dress on line and is very cute. I can't wait to have our annual family photo with her wearing it!

In the past, we have kept the celebration very close to the immediate family as we didn't want to "push" our new found holiday on others. I really feel I made a mistake. We want to invite as many family and friends who would like to attend the local FCC dinner with us (we need to make the RSVP/reservations in order to get the FCC discount as there is a price for the dinner, so let us know!). We have fun watching the traditional Chinese dances performed by many children (so far AA will not join in), doing a few crafts, seeing the newest Chinese children adopted and generally visiting with family and friends.

This is also a time to remember family who are no longer with us and didn't have a chance to come to one of our newest holiday celebrations. We love the annual family photo and wish many others could see the joy in our littlest daughter's face!

Hope you enjoy preparing for some family fun!