Year of the Tiger 2010

Today we celebrated the Year of the Tiger at Ye-Ye's house, making up for our snowed-out day last Saturday. Technically, the celebration of the Year of the Tiger goes on for a few weeks, so we ordered plenty of Chinese food, popped in some Chinese music, and wore our best outfits.

Madison wore an outfit that was purchased in China while we were there in Nanning. We bought it at the hotel we were staying at, which is the Mingyuan Xindu.

It's also called "the Majestic." They had a special floor set up for all the new parents that used to come in there monthly. It is far less frequent now, but I know they must have had a nice set-up for a while with so many new parents spending the week on the seventh floor every single month. We bought Madison's outfit in the hotel's store downstairs, along with her rattle that she would never let go of. It was a small store, but I remember purchasing a lot of things down there, from puzzles to the immediate practical things needed for having a baby in the hotel. I completely forgot about the outfit until today, but Mommy remembered and has been saving it for a special occasion. It has never been worn until tonight, and it looked wonderful on Madison. Especially with that cute little hat of hers - take a look!

Ye-Ye and Nana made a special trip to a market down in Gwinnett County that had all kinds of wonderful Asian foods to sample. They really get into making these family occasions something special for everyone. Pictures don't capture all the decorations and effort that go into each holiday at their home. They had brought back all sorts of Chinese food to try, and decorated the house for a very festive occasion. There were delicious fruits, mandarin oranges, fortune cookies, dumplings, and even a small lion puppet - we were going to use that for a mini-lion dance! Everyone had a great time, especially Madison.

Ye-Ye even pulled up a video of a lion dance on the computer, where the dancers did some pretty amazing jumps and acrobatics. Afterwards, "Kung Fu Panda" was plugged in for the kids as the adults sat back and relaxed. They put a lot of work into making this a proper Chinese New Year celebration, and Madison's cousins probably learned a thing or two - certainly about the food.

Madison handed out red envelopes as well as her Chinese New Year cards, and those Chinese rubber ducks too. AND, she got a special gift from Aunt Shain: a neat Kai-Lan house that folds out for the characters to live in. Mommy tucked that one away for when it's playtime. Madison will really enjoy that.

It was a fantastic time, and unfortunately seemed a little short. But it's always like that when you're having a good time. Fortunately, we're entering the busy season again, where birthdays and holidays fill the calendar all the time. We've got St. Patrick's Day coming up soon, several birthdays, and of course Easter. It'll be a lot of family time, and a lot of fun!