It’s Spring Festival time! It’s really an exciting and fun time around here. Just imagine Christmas with different decorations Everyone goes back home to be with family. The kids get off school for a whole month. Red lanterns are hung everywhere. Red paper cuttings are hung in windows. Blessings for the new year written on red paper are hung around the door frames. This year is the year of the pig – there are 12 zodiac animals altogether. I was born in 1985 which was the year of the cow. David and Colt are rats, Kylie is a rabbit, and Caden is a snake. That means nothing to us, but if you were a local born during the pig year, then this is your lucky year!

They also let off seemingly endless fireworks and firecrackers which make the air very polluted and leave a lot of trash on the ground, but it’s part of the tradition and festivities so . . . . We still manage to sleep through the night despite the bangs and exploding noises You can click here for the whole folk legend of how the Spring Festival started. Pretty interesting.

This year we have enjoyed the holiday more so than previous years. We have felt included and accepted as we have received gifts of homemade traditional holiday foods, a handwritten blessing to hang on our door, and been invited to eat with many friends and their families.