Happy Chinese New Year!

Well, ours isn't happy. Poor Sophie is sick. She woke up yesterday morning with a fever, which we were able to get under control with some ibuprofen. She's also very congested. She didn't take a long nap yesterday and she fell asleep on my shoulder at 7 PM last night. She awoke around 2:15 and snuggled in bed with us, but thanks to her stuffiness, she snored and kept me awake. I finally went back to sleep around 4:30 and then snoozed on and off until about 7 this morning. But she still had a little fever this morning. We went to the dr. before lunch, who basically said to keep an eye on it and let her know if it gets worse. At least her lungs sounded clear to the doc and her ears aren't infected. Hopefully, she'll be better by morning.

I was able to snap a shot of her yesterday wearing a cute Chinese fleece jacket that my friend Hong Mei handed down to Sophie from her daughters. It's a bit big, but we just rolled the sleeves up! She was all set to wear it today...maybe tomorrow.

I did manage to make a triple batch of homemade wontons yesterday, so we had wonton soup for dinner last night. And tonight, we're having mandarin chicken. I need to run EJ to first communion class in a few minutes, so K gets to have Sophie when she wakes from her nap and cook dinner! Lucky guy.

EJ took in red envelopes for her classmates today to tell them a little about Chinese New Year. This year, we filled them with bookmarks, bracelets, chopsticks, stickers, and fortune cookies. Sophie will take paper dragon fans to her class tomorrow to color. Here's the description we sent in with EJ to read to her class. It's pretty much the same as last year's, but a good refresher about the holiday:

In 2007, on E’s 8th birthday, we traveled to China to meet her new sister, Sophie LiLei. While traveling in China, we enjoyed learning about its history, food, and customs.

Today, January 26th, is the start of Chinese New Year in 2009. Chinese New Year, sometimes called Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is as important as the Christmas holiday in the United States. The date for the Chinese New Year celebration changes each year--it begins on the day of a new moon. The celebration lasts 14 days. The last day of the celebration is called the Lantern Festival, which occurs around the time of the full moon.

In China, many people travel to visit their families, usually their parents or grandparents, over this holiday. Respecting one’s elders is a very important aspect of Chinese culture. Usually, family members share a large meal. Fish is often served to symbolize abundance, or having extra, for the coming year. Dumplings are also eaten to symbolize wealth. In the evening, fireworks scare away bad spirits.

Often, people wear new clothing to signify the new year. Red decorations, usually with gold trim, symbolize good luck. Many decorations include a diamond-shaped pattern with the Chinese character for Fu, or luck, in the diamond. These decorations hang around the house and on doors. The Chinese Fu character is usually hung upside down, since the Chinese word for “upside down” sounds the same as another Chinese word that means “arrive”, meaning that anticipate the arrival of luck, happiness, and prosperity.

Another tradition in China is cleaning your house from top to bottom in the days before the celebration to sweep away the bad luck. It is also important to have your life “in order”, meaning you should resolve your disagreements and disputes with others.

Our family plans to celebrate Chinese New Year by eating Chinese food for dinner. Maybe we’ll use the pretty porcelain chopsticks we bought while on our trip! We also bought a new Chinese New Year decoration for our house.

This weekend, we will attend a very large party with all the families from our adoption agency. Nearly 2000 people will be there! We attended the party three years ago when we first started waiting for Sophie to join our family. In addition to delicious Chinese food, there will be a lot of musical and dance performances, including a lion and dragon dance to close the party. It is believed that the loud beats of the drum and the deafening sounds of the cymbals together with the face of the dragon or lion dancing aggressively can evict bad or evil spirits.

Each Chinese year is associated with one of 12 animals from the Chinese zodiac. Each animal has its own characteristics. This year will be the Year of the Ox. Some of your zodiac signs might be:

· 1997 (Ox): Dependable, calm, patient, hardworking, ambitious and logical, but might also be stubborn or demanding.
· 1998 (Tiger): Unpredictable, powerful, daring, and sincere and generous, but might also be restless, impatient, or selfish.
· 1999 (Rabbit): Gracious, sensitive, kind, and artistic, but might also be moody and lazy.

A very popular tradition for Chinese New Year is to pass out hongbao (hong-bow) or red envelopes to youngsters as a symbol of prosperity. The envelopes often contain money, usually an even amount. E has some envelopes for you today to help celebrate the holiday.

Kung Hei Fat Choi (kung-hay-fat-choy)! Happy New Year!!!