Gong Xi Fa Cai

Gung Hay Fat Choy ! Happy New Year! This year we celebrated the Year of the Rat with our dear friends Carrie, Celia and Sonya (yes, Robbie's Sonya). They came over for dinner. Carrie stopped by Penang and brought us the most amazing food - I felt like we were in China (but with no squatty potties), the food was so authentic. We had ordered a few things from a local Chinese restaurant that were clearly westernized so it was really cool to eat things that we would not normally try here in the U.S. She even ordered us fish served in all it's glory just like in China - no waste. It was looking at me, teeth bared. I should have taken a picture. Carrie speaks fluent Chinese, something that you would not expect from this fair skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed Midwestern girl. She spoke to Sam in Chinese and told him a few commands which he followed! I was so happy to know that he still remembered. Carrie and another friend of ours, Francis, who is from Taiwan, have talked with me about starting a Chinese play group. I am hoping we can get this going soon. I want my older boys involved too. We had a great time and just enjoyed being together. We exchanged red envelopes and the kids played. It was very low key which is where we are at right now. Maybe next year we can go to a big celebration, but for now we kept it simple. Go and check out the cake that my friend Michele and fellow Chongyang mom had for their New Year celebration - it is amazing!