handsful

TWO posts in ONE day! Whew…

I had to post again because today I received my second Chinese New Year present! I participated in two CNY gift exchanges this month, in honor of the holiday. For those who need some explanation, CNY is celebrated in the month of January or February, but the dates are different each year because it’s set around the moon’s rotation. This year, it began on 2/18. Each New Year is named after an animal and 2007 is the Year of the Pig!

These wonderful presents came from Marney, from my June-July CCAI group. She sent chocolate coins for the kids (most of which are already eaten!), REAL Chinese yuan money for each of our kids (how cool!), CNY picture book, CNY activity book, and she photocopied some pages from another book that goes into even more detail on CNY and how to celebrate. Given that we’re studying China this year in our homeschool, this couldn’t have been more appropriate! She also sent 10 red envelopes (hongbao) that we can use to give all FIVE of our children money for the next 2 CNYs! I loved that. Thank you, Marney!

These fabulous gifts came from Chris from my July Fireflies group. The first thing I found was the Little Tikes pig flashlight. You know how “lol” can be over-used sometimes online? Well, not this time. I literally LOL when I turned that guy on and he oinked at me! My kids even heard me and asked what was up! Love it!! She also sent a beautiful red paper lantern (that my daughter Abbey BEGGED me for), fancy blowers to make lots of noise (to scare away the bad spirits, as they would do in China…bad spirits hate noise apparently), instructions on how to make a origami pig, and a cute origami kit complete with cut papers! I love everything, thanks so much, Chris!

I can’t wait to share these things with Lainey one day, and tell her about all the online friends, who I’ll probably never meet face-to-face, who made our wait for her so much sweeter.