Different in every year, Chinese New Year of 2016 is February 8. Even though I haven’t been celebrating the New Year with my friends and family back home for almost five years, the memories of laughter and happiness are still vivid in my mind.
For the past few years, I talk to my mom on Skype on New Year’s Eve. Fortunately, the invention of Skype makes our distance closer because every time when I video chat with my mom, I feel like I am there with her. Recalling the memories from my childhood, the sound of adults playing Mah-jong and kids playing raffles are in my head.
When I was little, we gathered together for family dinner. The menu is usually diversified, however, there are several foods that cannot be absent: rice cakes, fish, dumplings, seafood and all kinds of meat. Some of the adults work out of town or in the city, so New Year’s time is the best opportunity for us to meet each other once a year. After dinner, we played fireworks in the alley of my grandmother’s house to celebrate and wish each other happy new year. Personally, I think New Year’s Eve is one of the funniest nights throughout the year. We were told a myth that the later we stay up, the longer lives our parents will have. This is the only time we can play all night long because my mom always asked me to go to bed at 11 p.m. For my family tradition, we usually stayed at my grandmother’s house for the overnight celebration. My cousins and I played poker together, and we were allowed to bet for a small amount of money (such as 0.3 cents each time). After a night, the first day of the lunar year is coming. Kids are supposed to “flatter” (say something nice to) the adults in order to get their red envelopes, which contain gifts of money. The celebration continues for a week, and each day has a different activity. Some people travel during the break, some people stay with family and treasure the time that we have together.
Recalling those sweet and funny memories is such a enjoyable thing to do. Even though I have been missing those for a long time ago, I hope one day that I will go back and celebrate with them again really soon.
LOL (lots of love)!!!!!