Chinese New Year

So they say this is the year of the Rat. The Rat?!?! I don't like Rats. Period. Or "full-stop" (as we say it the British way). Well, anyway....my experience with Chinese New Year is visiting my Chinese friends' homes (back in Malaysia) and eating good food. If I walked away with a red packet ("ang pow") in my hand, I was pretty fired up. Watching dragon dances, seeing fire crackers go off and tasting Chinese cuisine is all part and parcel of enjoying the CNY - in my experience.
It just dawned on me, that I should introduce my children to some Malaysian festive seasons. So, I decided to teach Sydney how to make little chinese lanterns using red construction paper. On Thursday, the 1st day of the Lunar new year, we gave Sydney and Caleb red packets with a $2 bill in it. And, yes, we had chinese food that night. Nothing too elaborate because Sydney is a picky eater and I didn't have much time to prepare. I made fried rice and chinese egg soup. On Saturday, we took the kids to go see a dragon/lion dance at a mall that was promoting the CNY celebration. Sydney thought that the best part was feeding the dragon some money and having her bestfriend Reese with her.