Chinese New Year

This is the year of the rabbit. 

If you were born in 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987 or 1999, you were born in the year of the rabbit.  The Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco website says:
"People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Rabbit people are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are fond of gossip but are tactful and generally kind. Rabbit people seldom lose their temper. They are clever at business and being conscientious, never back out of a contract. They would make good gamblers for they have the uncanny gift of choosing the right thing. However, they seldom gamble, as they are conservative and wise. They are most compatible with those born in the years of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog."

I'm personally not a believer in all the zodiac crap but I was born in the year of the horse.  How fitting.  If there would have been years of the jack*$s, manatee, or wildebeest, those would have fit me well, also.  You can click the link above to see which year you are.

Here at home, the lanterns and decorations were hung yesterday and we're all ready for a yummy Chinese dinner tonight! The kids are eager to get their *red envelopes, which I put up somewhere "safe" so I wouldn't misplace them, and now I can't find them (typical), so Brianna graciously volunteered to color some white envelopes with a red crayon.  I thought we could just leave them white, but I was informed that that just wouldn't be the same.  Haha!  She and Olivia are going to decorate them with some Chinese stickers to make them "special." **How much would you like to bet that the packet of fancy red and gold ones I bought will suddenly appear right after they do all that work to make their own?  Oh well...  Their homemade ones will be better, anyway.  Maybe, decorating their own envelopes will become a new tradition.

(*Traditionally, red envelopes containing a little money are given to children to symbolize the wish for a prosperous year.  I'd like a red envelope, or two a dozen, myself.)

(**I knew this would happen!  I found the red envelopes almost as soon as I finished typing this.  But the girls' were already done, so we're sticking with theirs.)

Happy Chinese New Year, Everyone!