xin nian kuai le!

happy chinese new year! well, it's lunar new year, but i got this book called: "Happy Chinese New Year, Kai-lan!" and that's what they say in the book. i don't know how to pronounce it. i don't know which words mean what. mostly cause i'm not chinese. which may or may not come as a surprise to some people. anyhoo, one of my new year's resolutions was to celebrate korean and canadian holidays with my kids, so that's kind of what we did today.

our festivities actually started after hobey left at 5. i probably could have done some lunar new year craft or something today, but i didn't think far enough in advance to do that. maybe next year we will make some paper lanterns or something. after hobey got picked up, i was pretty tired and not in the mood for celebrating much of anything, but i was even more not in the mood for making dinner, so the kids and i got in the car and started driving. i was going to go to Mekong Plaza, a make-shift chinatown in Mesa. but i didn't actually feel like eating chinese food. i felt like eating sushi. so we went to Ra, a sushi restaurant that has an awesome happy hour. and it made me happy. the kids also did really really well eating their chicken skewers and edamame. the kids likened their chicken on a stick to 'ice cream' (they meant popsicles), lollipops, and marshmallows on a twig. this made for some serious chicken eating. i am going to have to remember to have more sticks on hand when i am making chicken.


then we walked over to barnes and noble to read some books about the lunar new year. only i couldn't find any. they didn't have a display of books, which i thought they would have. nothing. so i tracked someone down and asked them and they said they had a display but that they took it down yesterday. i don't know why they took the display down the day before the actual day they were trying to commemorate. whatev. so by this time the kids, and i, were antsy, and we needed to get home to sleep. so instead of talking about lunar new year with my kids for free, i ended up buying a book (ah! that must be why they put the display away. well played barnes and noble. well played. enjoy my $6.)

so, we got home, got ready for bed, and read our new book. the kids really loved it. we learned that red is a happy color, according to the chinese, and that's why they hang red lanterns, banners, and wear red clothes on this special holiday. super. they didn't talk about the phases of the moon or anything like that. and actually all the books at barnes and noble were about chinese people celebrating the lunar new year, as if other asians don't. again- whatev. here are lily and topher holding up their new book:



but i am very proud of the fact that i made an effort (albeit a small one) to show my kids a little extra culture. even though there was nothing korean about our celebration in the midst of japanese food and chinese books. there's always next year- come January 23rd, i will be ready!