From snow monkeys to the year of the monkey. Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Wishing everyone much health and happiness in the year of the monkey!
Our little orange tree decked out with lucky money
Here’s how we celebrated the Lunar New Year in China…
Fought our way through the Yuexiu flower market, one of the city’s official flower markets…
Impossible to even get near some of the stalls with these crowds!
Anyone know what these are? They were all over the flower market so they must mean something auspicious.
Cherry or plum blossom trees
Flowers are an important part of decorating for Chinese New Year
We quickly left the insanity and returned to our own much better and much saner neighbourhood flower market
Red and gold paper decorations. A must for getting your home ready to greet the new year.
Impressive orchid displays
Cherry and plum blossom trees are like Christmas trees for Chinese New Year. They even have farms where you can go and cut one down for yourself.
Orange trees as far as the eye can see. They symbolize good luck.
And this is how you transport an orange tree home in our neighbourhood
We continued the tradition of making dough ball soup for new year’s eve lunch.
Dough balls represent completeness because of their round shape. Marc was working hard to get his dough ball as round as possible
And then as is the Chinese way, you outdo one meal with another. Of course the Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner is the ultimate feast of the year.
Geoduck as only my mom can make it. So yummy!
Huge delicious scallops!
And no Chinese New Year feast is complete without chicken. It’s like turkey for Thanksgiving.
After all that work cleaning and cooking (and eating), new year’s day is about the payout – lucky money and entertainment.
Best part of Chinese New Year for a kid
Traditional lion dance with six lions
Dragon chasing the pearl
And to think the celebrations go on for the next two weeks!
All The Pretty Places 
Happy new year of the monkey, Shirley! That yellow plants are called Abiu, caimito or gold berry and they are native to tropical America. Their latin name is Solanum mammosum. I think they have two kinds of meanings. One is wishing to earn a lot of money in the new year because you can see the yellow fruits are very filled. Another is completeness of your family because there are five “fingers” on the fruits. That means five generations of your family live together happily.
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Happy New Year to you Yongjian! I thought you might be able to answer my question about the yellow fruit:) Thanks!
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Happy Chinese New Year to you all!
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Thanks Jean!
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