Happy Chinese New Year

The year of the Rooster flew by and it was a challenging year for me having to start a new job and adjusting to the unfamiliar new work environment. It took me almost a year to learn the culture and establish my credibility, looking back now I’m glad that I switched job and so much happier at the new place.The Chinese New Year for 2018 arrived on February 16, 2018, it’s the year of the Dog. According to the Chinese Horoscope theory from Chinesefortunecalendar.com, “Male Earth is connected to the mountain. Dog mainly contains Male Earth with little Metal and Fire. The sign of 2018 Male Earth Dog year is two mountains sit side by side or another mountain beyond a mountain. That will be a strong Earth. People will focus on real estate, agriculture, environment, territory integrity or religious, spiritual area. 2018 is a Mountain Dog year. Mountain Dog might be a wild dog. It could block your way out. That implies you might encounter some obstacles before executing your plan. You need to use your wisdom to remove the blockage first, then you will see the wide-open road.” This sounds like another challenging year for me.

We have our Chinese New Year tradition, my dad paid homage to his ancestors on Friday, I went by to photograph for him after work.

It’s an exciting time of the year for the kids, Lee said that it’s like receiving a paycheck. My dad, sisters and I gave her money in the red envelopes.

Exciting time for my niece also.

It’s a small decoration but sure makes the room more festive.

We went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant on Saturday, certainly beat having to cook.

I found some interesting reading here of what is expected for the year.

Chinese New Year: Year of the Fire Rooster

A few days late of posting the Lunar New Year, my dad paid homage to his ancestors on January 28, 2017. This is the year of the Fire Rooster, it’s the 10th year of the zodiac and is also symbolic of hard work and diligence.

This year my dad ordered the chicken and duck from Bo’s farm and Bo deep fried them. This has to be Bo’s proudest moment to have his farm animals as part of the ceremony.

My grandfather was Chinese and passed away before I was born. I’m glad that my dad still carried the tradition and we will certainly pass this down to the younger generations.

Best Year for:  Dragons, Goats
Money Year for:  Snakes, Oxen & Monkeys
Good Year for: Rats, Horses
Mixed Year for:  Roosters, Tigers
Challenging Year for:  Rabbits, Dogs, Pigs

I found some interesting reading here of what is expected for the year.

Chinese New Year: Year of the Horse

This year’s Chinese Lantern Festival was on February 14, 2014, it fell right on Valentine’s day. I could only imagine what it would feel like to celebrate Chinese New Year in China, Thailand, or even in Laos. Like every year, we celebrated Chinese New Year at my dad’s house on February 1st.

My dad is half Chinese, so paying homage to our ancestors on Chinese New Year is our family tradition as long as I could remember.  This year I missed photographing the homage feast due to my busy schedule and also the treacherous road condition from the snow still lingering on January 30th.

The year of the horse is a year of optimistic, and I truly believe that success will come to those that are willing to work hard.

Horse year is a great year for optimism

This is an interesting read from 2014chineseastrology.com. As I’m reading the list below, I can’t help but thinking that it’s so true for many people that I know.  Life is not as simple as it used to be, and just because you have connections in the past doesn’t mean that it’s any good this year, you have to earn your keep.

• Rat will be facing challenges as everyone watches Horse stealing the show.
• Ox will need to make adjustments and look for any opportunities to make changes
• Tiger is a friend to Horse and can have a really good year as long as s/he doesn’t take too long to decide
• Rabbit may have more opportunities that s/he knows what to do with, speed will be important
• Dragon can find allies and resources to help with a big project
• Snake finally gets to see some results from all his/her hard work this year
• Horse gets to plant seeds as s/he starts a new 12 year cycle. This will be a year filled with both work and play.
• Ram needs to get things cleared away for his/her special year in 2015
• Monkey likes this new Horse energy and is ready to capitalize on it
• Rooster can handle whatever is thrown at him/her which this year includes lots of opportunities
• Dog finally gets a happy year after several tough ones, wishes are going to come true
• Pig will have to make changes this year or s/he will feel unsettled and cranky

We give Lai see or red envelopes with money inside to the girls on Chinese New Year, and they are typically left unsigned.

The girls love receiving Lai see money on Chinese New Year.

Happy Chinese New Year to all. I wish you much happiness and prosperity this year, Kung Hei Fat Choy.