little bitty girl

It's the year of the Lucky Pig (supposedly, this is a golden year for all piggies out there in the world). We had a really great dinner at my brother's place celebrating the new year with my family and my sister in law's family. It's not very often that we actually get to celebrate on New Year's Eve due to my parents wonky work schedule. But this year we got to start the Chinese New Year the traditional way, ringing in the eve with closest family and friends.

Irene made a veritable feast. I think she's starting to inherit the Kang tendency to overcook but gluttony is always the perfect way to celebrate. We got to also hang out with her super cute niece and nephew. I can't believe how quickly the kids have grown and it was so sweet to see Meghan talking and having full conversations with us. She so obviously loves my brother and sister and I can't wait until they are little "Kuku" and "KimKim" to my own children.

Stef was a little disgruntled as this was the first year that we had to give out lucky money. Once a couple is married, you have to share your luck with others who are not. He had no idea that this was part of the deal and asked whether we could annul our marriage before every new year and remarry shortly after. He was joking, of course.

I really wish he knew what it's like to really celebrate Chinese New Year. It's just not done properly here. It's a fifteen day celebration usually, with lots of amazing food and visits to friends and relatives. I really would like him to go home to Asia with me one of these days during the new year so that he could experience the real deal.

We have such good memories as children during this time. I remember the nervous anticipation leading up to it. The house would be turned upside down since everything needed to be spotless before the new year. My mother would be frantically baking non-stop and preparing food. Many a time, a smack on the hand would be given should she catch any one of us pilfering the special goodies before the holidays. We would go shopping for new clothes, and jewelry would be taken out of storage boxes to wear.

The best part was hanging out with my Ng cousins causing all sorts of trouble. Usually with fireworks. Our uncle would have to supervise us and he would always inadvertently fall asleep but he somehow always woke up, just before we were about to shoot some firecracker into the neighbour's house.

Good times....