The Year of the Rabbit takes the cake

You really can't have too much of a good thing--at least not if we're talking about Mandarin oranges, an excellent (or apparently even mediocre) book, or Chinese New Year celebrations.



This week we have opened fortune cookies every night after dinner--and sometimes for breakfast. We've eaten plenty of oranges and visited our local Asian supermarket where we inhaled the fresh fish scent, admired the lobsters, and felt a hairy coconut.

We even discovered that our new favorite local Chinese restaurant (the chef is from Changsha in Hunan Province) has lovely Chinese lanterns on display for the new year. Louis loves them and calls them "Chinese light bulbs." I wish I knew where we could find some for our home.

We introduced the Cat in the Hat to one of our lucky Chinese cats, and they got along famously.

When John tried to explain to Louis what it says on the Chinese cat's gold coin, Louis corrected him again and again. "Not a coin!" he said. "A Chompo bar."

OK, so some of the Chinese traditions didn't sink in completely this year. (And I realize that the fortune cookies aren't a Chinese tradition but a Chinese-American tradition.)

To be honest, though, what we hoped for most out of this year's celebration was fun. Louis has time to learn more about Chinese culture, but we want him to look forward to Chinese New Year the way we look forward to other holidays.

This year we told him it was a time for friends and family.

We ate lots of oranges. (Louis ate three in one day before our guests arrived for dinner--and he would have eaten more.)

We didn't clean the house from top to bottom--though we desperately need to--but John thoroughly cleaned two of the bathrooms. Then we decorated the house and invited friends who have some Chinese heritage to join us for Chinese carry-out.

Louis loved the dragon centerpiece, but he wanted to know why it was a dragon and not a rabbit. We tried to explain why the dragon is such a great symbol and balanced it with several rabbits around the house.

We broke from tradition and unpacked the Sizzlers--and Baba let Louis open a brand-new silver car to race around the track. It wasn't in a red envelope, but it was still popular. Oh, and the rice candy I slipped into the envelopes with the money? "It tastes like raw meat," Louis said. I don't know whether that was a compliment--or how he knows.

Then, because Louis had failed to nap earlier, Baba and Louis took a spontaneous pre-dinner nap.

When Louis woke up, his friends Edward and Avery were visiting--and everyone was hungry for Chinese food. We pulled out the chopsticks and Louis went to work.

Louis is not completely adept with chopsticks, but he loves to practice with them.

Our son's enthusiasm for chopsticks is nothing, however, compared to his passion for won ton soup, dumplings, lo mein, and chicken lettuce wraps.

Stuffed full of Chinese food, we could have stopped there. But an important part of Chinese New Year celebrations is getting together with family. So we invited ourselves to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner last night. That may sound cheeky--and it is--but we did bring the pieces for a bunny cake.

We also brought Louis.

 

 This task had his name written all over it.

He covered the tummy and ears in coconut--especially exciting because it came out of a hairy coconut like the one he held in the supermarket last week.

Then he set to work on the face.

 

Should the rabbit have brown eyes? Blue eyes? Green eyes?

"Red eyes," said Louis, placing them carefully on the bunny's face.

He doesn't like to draw much--we think because he's such a perfectionist--but he is very detail-oriented and he does have a creative side.

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He wanted this bunny to be just right.

Not everyone would have seen the need for a second smile on the rabbit's tummy.

Somehow it looked just fine.

 He placed the whiskers.

Then he agreed to pose for the camera with Mama--and with a better cheese smile than the rabbit's.

Oh, and then a Zax imitation thrown in, for good measure.

You want to start this new year off right, after all.

Our rabbit didn't end up being golden. And for a cake honoring a year of rest, this Year of the Rabbit cake required quite a bit of effort.

 Still, Louis and the fuzzy rabbit bank (now named Fred by Louis) seemed pleased with the results.

Louis blew out the candle in a hearty, direct blow.

If you've been paying attention to Louis's tastebuds, you won't be looking for a photo of our baked-goods-boycotting boy eating a piece of cake. He did like the M&Ms and the coconut, though.



Then he helped extinguish the other dinner candles. Grandma and Grandpa always eat by candlelight because it made their six children sit more quietly. It seems to work with Louis, too, when he comes to Grandmom's house. Oops, did I say "Grandmom"? As Louis would correct me, "His name is Grandma."

Because it is Chinese New Year and Aunt Treasa was there with her fabulous camera, we posed for a few family photos.

When I say "we," I mean John and I posed and tried to coax Louis to smile. He was too busy talking.

Sometimes it worked, though this might not be the one to frame for the wall.

In some of them, Louis is cuter than an M&M-eyed rabbit cake.

In some he's glowering.

 In others he just looks bored.

In the end, we managed to get one photo where we're all looking the same direction, even if everyone looks a bit off-balance. It may not be the best family photo, but at least we look happy.

The Year of the Rabbit is off to a good start! Gung Hay Fat Choy!