Monday, January 23, 2012

Memory Monday- Happy Chinese New Year!

 Singapore dollars sticking out of an old ang pow
Every Chinese New Year our family will eat a special meal together- on Chinese New Year Eve- a 'reunion' dinner. Early on Chinese New Year day, the children would dutifully wish us a happy New Year. In response to their greeting, we hand them an ang pow (red packet with money inside). 


my many red packets...some with Bible verses on them
The rule is that only single children receive the ang pows. This year all my children are married. I did leave an ang pow in Denver for little Kailynn, my granddaughter. We skyped so she could greet us with the "Gong Xi Fa Cai" and then she received her ang pow from Grams and Grandpa-pa. 

The before picture
the after picture :)
Work schedules did not allow for us to have a reunion dinner on the proper day. We were able to get together on Saturday for an early celebration. Katrina fixed up her house wonderfully. She had prepared Gyoza as an appetizer.  Daniel cooked up delicious Malaysian Chinese fare and we all ended with the dessert- gula melaka! All in all, it was a wonderful get together and the tradition continues.


* in case you are confused as to WHY we celebrate Chinese new year- my hubby is a Chinese or at least that was what we thought-- until we found out he is actually only 1/2 Chinese (his mom is Chinese), 1/4 Irish and 1/4  Punjabi (from his dad)...how we found all this out is a story all of its own- very intriguing- but hey, since we only found this out 2 years ago- we still carry on the tradition.

20 comments:

  1. Happy New Year to you and yours. It sounds like a great celebration.

    The story of your hubby also sounds intriguing. There are a multitude of nationalities in my family too. Maybe we should both write novels around that topic.

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    1. ha ha- yes wcould definitely write novels about that- HEY, that could be your next best seller- I mean you have fodder for a GREAT book, right? ;) Am dashing out the door but will visit your blog later today!

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  2. Love this tradition :) (And the ending blurb...!)

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    1. that ending part will be a whole 'nother post ;)...yeah I told him that now we know he is Irish we have to celebrate St. Patrick's Day :)

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  3. its nice you follow the tradition

    and your husband's lineage - wow..that is one great mix i must say...a mini-world almost :))

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    1. Sujatha- yes his lineage is interesting- I'll have to do a post sometime on how we discovered the intricacies of it :)

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  4. Hello Ms.Anjuli..so where's my angpow hehehe..I am also a Chinese..ok half Filipino and half Chinese ..so I have Chinese eyes too look oh..Happy Chinese new Year Ms.Anjuli..passing by I'm back ;)

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    1. Gong Xi Fa Cai to you!!! Yes, if you were here you would get your red packet :) It is good to see you back!!

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  5. Gong Xi Fa Cai to you Anjuli. :) It was wonderful reading about the lovely tradition associated with the Chinese New year. :) Also nice and intriguing tidbit about your husband's lineage. Very nice read. :)

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    1. Thanks for visiting Raj- am going now to visit your blog.

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  6. Happy New Year :)))

    Till last year I celebrated Chinese New Year and I have no Chinese genes. I used to work closely with the team in China. :)))

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    1. :) IT seems this year all the news stations were wishing everyone Chinese New Year- and everyone was 'doing something' for Chinese New Year.

      It is a fun holiday to celebrate.

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  7. Happy Chinese New Year. Melbourne has a massive Chinese population so I celebrated it for six years. I always wore red! Now I'm curious about your husband's story. Do tell.

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    1. Ah, so you KNOW how to celebrate Chinese New Year- yes RED is the colour of choice :)

      I'll try to tell the story in upcoming posts- it is quite an incredible story!

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    2. p.s. I hope my next blog post (Jan 25th) doesn't border on 'showing' rather than 'sharing'- I was laughing as I typed it and posted it- because I kept remembering your blog post!! ha ha!! You'll understand when you read the last bit. ;)

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    3. No frigging way. That is not showing off at all. It's the cutest story I've read in a long time. In fact I'm going to make my husband read it. And then make him buy me a present.

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  8. By a post script you made it easy for me to comprehend. That story would be interesting.

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    1. Thank you for visiting the blog! I will head over to yours to check you out.

      As I mentioned it Gayatri- I will try to do a post on the story behind this interesting turn of events.

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  9. hey i was at some restaurant when they informed me about chinese new year ...so happy new year to you too

    p.s. - dropped in from sujatha's blog

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    Replies
    1. Glad you dropped by- I enjoyed your posting on the Singaporean cuisine.

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