Chinese New Year

Maybe I should have taken advantage of our housebound time last week to create Chinese New Year decorations. Maybe we should have bought Chinese New Year cards and Year of the Tiger decorations while we were in China. Maybe next year we'll plan our celebration more than a few days in advance. Maybe. Still, our piecemeal, untraditional celebration turned out to be a lot of fun for the children, which was our goal, and Louis had absolutely no complaints. Or maybe his mouth was so full of lollipops that he couldn't talk. He even let us put his Chinese outfit on for dinner--an unexpected bonus since I'm not sure how many more chances he'll have to wear it!

Three of his cousins--Julia, Gregory, and Mary--were at my parents' house to celebrate with us and that made it feel even more like an all-out party. Julia and Mary wore the dresses we chose for them in China and Gregory took a turn with the tiger hat we brought home for Louis.

Louis wore the hat briefly, and only after Gregory wore it. You'll notice that Louis is also wearing a tiger shirt.
Here Louis is meeting Julia's beloved rat Templeton. Julia, who loves all rats, is a Chinese New Year enthusiast partly because she enjoyed the Year of the Rat celebrations so much.


My mother placed a tiger on the cake, and I'm sorry I can't get the photo to cooperate for the blog. Louis loved my mother's cake. He refuses to try anything his own mother bakes, but Grandma's cake vanishes! The children opened homemade red envelopes with treats inside, including some lucky pennies for the New Year. The lollipops made a much greater impression than the pennies.


After dinner the children created their own fun.



Here are a few photos from over the weekend:

Louis gave a cupcake a try, but he decided he still preferred the peas.
Here he is eating them surreptitiously.

Helping the pig play the piano

Playing with trains with his Baba