It's a happy New Year

This is the time of Lunar New Year, which is celebrated for 15 days. This is a family affair and there's an almost total shutdown of schools and businesses for the first two days. You feel the shutdown much more than during Christmas. This time it's a long 4-day weekend, probably the longest of the year.

There was good build up. Monday was breakfast with 5 of our Christian counsellor and pastor friends. Tue and Wed was time on global ministry, with pastoral staff and with Pui See. Thur was spent drafting a position paper on 'Inter-Generational Curse'. Fri was corporate worship, the first time the weekend service was brought forward. Dinah's Lunar New Year message was 'A New Me for the New Year'.

The holidays begin Saturday. Ours start with shopping for seasonal fruits. Next is the 'Game of Life' in keeping our promise to the twins. Pat got this board game for the twins and also so that she could play it with them. We discover Dan is competitive, Deb is a kind player, Dinah is the most honest and I get fourth place. Our Lunar New Year celebration begins with an all-night reunion dinner with Dinah's side of the family.

We awaken on Sunday by the sounds of a lion troupe. Dinah dresses us in red to join our Mandarin worship service. James starts the sermon saying the first visitation is to our spiritual family on Sunday service. Indeed! The service has a great family atmosphere. Afterwards, we bump into an old school friend whom we're supposed to visit tomorrow. So we catch up at the mall. Then we get home and call my parents with New Year wishes. Our tradition on the first day of the Lunar New Year is a visitation to Dinah's mom. This visitation continues to dinner.

Our tradition for the second day is to visit my mom's aunt. But she moved to LA last July. Instead we enjoy a leisurely breakfast with New Year goodies. We all catch up with reading before lunch with our neighbours. Later they come over to our place for visitation. The weather is just great for an evening swim. Mon night is cartoons night for the kids as we do more reading.

Today is Tuesday. It's another leisurely breakfast with New Year goodies. The kids watch Justice League cartoons. Next we host lunch for my brother-in-law who turns 47 today. Then we help the kids with social studies research on continents, with Dinah reminding that we've churches in all the inhabited continents. The afternoon gets more interesting when we are riveted watching 'Hotel Rwanda'. It's truly moving and we totally recommend it.

This is how it tapers off... The kids just love the rare home-cooked meal. So the holiday ends with a simple home-cooked dinner as promised. We enjoy every bit of this meal time thanking God for time with family and friends. It's a happy New Year.