The 80s Christmas Tree

• Charlie Brown O Christmas Tree

We didn’t get this tree in the 80s but it is over 10 years old.  We got it before Lee was born so it has a lot of memories for us.  Lee couldn’t wait so we had the tree up and decorated before Thanksgiving.  I took these photos on Sunday after I cleaned my camera.  I still don’t have the right cleaning kit but so far it’s working okay, the q tips, alcohol and dust remover seems to do the trick.

The first thing that went up was the faceless straw angel, and she is holding my mom’s memorial Christmas ornament.  It will be 5 years this January since her passing.

Then I received a gift from the Hospice of Catawba Valley after my mom passed away.  It is a handcrafted porcelain ornament and if you hang the ornament in the window, light will shine through its intricate design. The Hospice team are very caring people and it was very thoughtful of them to send this to our family.

This ornament was given to us back in 1997, not sure if the giver would remember it.

Lee grew up with the sesame street gang, Big bird and Elmo.

She collects these along the way.

Her latest collection is the RV.

And several porcelain angels hanging on the tree.

Her Halloween mask is still up.

So where are the 80s Christmas decorations?  Here are some of the original ornaments that came with the tree.  Bo had won this Christmas Tree at the March of Dime auction at the hospital over 10 years ago.

And so far 2 gifts underneath the tree.

Last Sunday was the first night we lit the Christmas tree.

North Carolina Hmong New Year 2011-2012

Click here to view this video on YouTube

Hmong New Year celebration falls on the week of Thanksgiving in North Carolina, we went on the third day (Saturday) and they had a good turnout.  This is the first time my dad attended the event with us and senior citizens over the age of 65 get in for free, so my dad didn’t have to pay.  The ticket is $3 per person and Sunday is the last day.

When we got there my camera acted kind of funny, I think it was dirty.  I tried to clean the body and lens the best that I could without having a proper cleaning kit. It worked for awhile and kept quitting on me, the strange thing was that the video feature worked just fine. This is the first time I came back from an event with a handful of photos. I manually cleaned the camera sensor when I got home, and it seems to work for now.

Lee in her Hmong outfit.

I ran into Mozemoua on my way out, I didn’t know at the time if my camera would take this picture.  I’m glad it did and turned out okay. I was glad to see her again, I met her for the first time last year at the Hmong New Year. She had made the Hmong outfit for Lee.

This must be new fashion, I asked to take her photo and she was more than happy to pose for me.

He also wanted his picture taken.

I posted this information last year. During the Hmong New Year celebration, the Hmong ball tossing game pov pob is a common activity for adolescents, but I noticed that older couples also play this game as well. Boys and girls form two separate lines in pairs that are directly facing one another. Girls can ball toss with other girls or boys, but boys cannot ball toss with other boys. It is also taboo to toss the ball to someone of the same clan. The pairs toss a cloth ball back and forth, until one member drops the ball. If a player drops or misses the ball, an ornament or item is given to the opposite player in the pair. Ornaments are recovered by singing love songs (hais kwv txhiaj) to the opposite player. (Source and to read more about the Hmong New Year) I’m not sure if the gifts and the singing of love songs are still practiced in America.

We bought some fresh fruits on the way out.

Thanksgiving at my Dad’s House

We had a small gathering at my Dad’s house yesterday. I came from a big family of 8 children (7 sisters and no brother) and a gathering like this is always fun and festive. I do missed my mom for no longer here with us and I hope that my sisters that couldn’t be here enjoyed seeing the photos as much as we enjoyed the food and fun. Friday was a beautiful day, the sky was deep blue and the weather warm during the day. My dad had his Thai country music playing from the camper.

My second sister made shrimp in a blanket.  She wrapped her shrimps with fully cooked bacon and grilled on the grill. Lee and my niece loved it and here is my niece showing off her piece below.

One of my sisters made Kauw Mee, it is a Lao style noodle dish.

I made Tum Mak Houng, a spicy papaya salad.  I usually fix it very spicy for myself, but kind of mild yesterday since most don’t have iron stomach like I do.

The fun part was telling ghost stories by the campfire at night. You always hear a different version of the same story, here is one of Phi Kongkoi a ghost story from Laos told by my brother in-law.  In his version the Phi Kongkoi would come out at night and eat craps.  His feet are backward, so when you chase him he would run backward. I know it sounds so weird, must be for the kids.

Click here to view this video on YouTube

This is not as scary as when I heard it as a kid. According to my mom’s version, a fisherman named Thid Kaew went by the water bank and saw Phi Kongkoi.  She had fish in her mouth, blood dripping from her lips.  She said ‘Hungry! Hungry!’ Thid Kaew was scared but tried to be brave, he had a flame torch in his hand and told her to open her mouth wide, then wider, and when she did that, he shoved the torch into her mouth.  She cried out in pain.  I recalled that the image of Phi Kongkoi was very vivid in my mind when my mom told me.

Lee had her share of telling her ghost stories also.

We had a lot of fun, lots of laughing and it’s like camping out in the wilderness.

But not too far from home.

Thanksgiving Feast Lao Style

We travel every year to Bo’s parents for Thanksgiving.This year Lee dressed her part as the Native American, but in reality we were like the Pilgrims that traveled the Mayflower journey to settle in North America.  We just came many moons later.

As Laotians and Laotian Americans living in the US, we are thankful to be here. I was Lee’s age when I came to America.

We all brought in a dish or two and I made 2 trays of spring rolls.

Stuffing is one of Bo’s favorite dish on Thanksgiving, and his mom learned how to make this American dish from her sponsor.

I called this dish Goi Gai, but I’m sure some Laotians called it Larb Gai.  It is a Lao spicy chicken salad.

Tum mak houng (spicy papaya salad)

som phak kad (pickled green vegetables)

All homemade desserts.

The pumpkin cupcakes were delicious.  Lee and I have to give this a try, and we could probably find a good deal on pumpkin this time of the year.

This was brought in by our German guest, and very popular among the kids.

I didn’t have much luck photographing the kids, I had to chase them down.

Then I finally caught up with them in the garage, here is a group photo.

As for the chickens they were  glad that it’s a turkey day and not a chicken day.  As for Laotians we get confused sometimes and have chicken occasionally on Thanksgiving so it worries this Americana hen til she turned grey.

He is thinking that I’m way too young to be eaten. Actually I couldn’t tell if it were a hen or rooster.

They are safe this year since grandma had 2 turkey cooking in her ovens. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving feast.

Technical note:  I didn’t use flash taking the food photos and had to compensate by shooting in high ISO 6400.  I think it is not the best choice on my part, some of the pictures are grainy.