Year of the Ox

Some people consider Christmas, Halloween or gasp, Valentine's Day as their favorite holiday. Mine is the Lunar New Year (aka Tet/Chinese New Year).

I haven't been able to pinpoint why this is my favorite holiday but I think it's because it's the only one that I celebrate that's rooted in tradition. There isn't a tradition of decorating the Christmas tree or sitting around the table expressing what we're thankful for around our home. Instead, we start planning the celebration of the Lunar New Year just around Christmas time.

There is no need to wrap any gifts but it's important to start wrapping the lai see which is a red envelope that contains lucky money. It is customary to give the lai see to children or anyone younger than you however I like giving so I tend to give my lai see to everyone. I also make sure that the money is brand new since that just makes it even luckier :)

•fresh money and lucky envelope•

•ready to bring luck to the year of the ox•

We usually head over to my aunt's house since she is one who loves hostessing parties. She always does an amazing job of decorating the home. I think that tradition is that there must be 100 things in the house red. I don't think that they stick to it but sure try.

•the vietnamese altar•

•cherry blossom money tree•

There are also games that take us into long into the night and I have no clue what to call the first one. It's more of a children's game, we play this first and then lead into Vietnamese Blackjack. It's a silly game of placing coins on each object. If that object is rolled with the dice, than you win. It's basic and silly but mainly, just fun to play with the kids. The "elders" tend to like their Blackjack much better.

•cua/boai/tom•

•time to play•

•marijn getting involved and counting my coins. he's become a fan•

•time for the adults to play vietnamese blackjack•

Anyway, I hope that everyone has a wonderful year and really get to celebrate in this Year of the Ox (which President Obama happens to be! Year of Change it is!).

I'm looking forward to what is coming this way. It's going to rock. Like an Ox! ;)

Old Photos

It's already January and another year has passed! Don't worry, this isn't going to be one of those self-reflective blogs of where one looks back on the year past and then tries to figure out what this upcoming year is going to hold. No resolutions. No reflections. But more of a gasp that it's already January and there is only four months left for us to cross a bunch of stuff off our "wedding to-do list" which is about twenty pages long. Eek, where does the time go?!

One of the things that we're doing is asking our parents/grandparents for their wedding photos. Not sure what we are going to do with them but will figure out a way to incorporate them into evening. So far, I've received my grandparents wedding day photos and what a treat! They have been married for over 61 years which is amazing and even rare in the age that we live in. I was shocked when I only received about seven photos but according to them, they really didn't have a lot of photos. Back in 1946, you take the photos of the "key" events only and hope that the film comes out (unlike today's age where we are probably going to get a disc that contains 500+).

I wanted to share some of the photos of my grandparents wedding which is so simple and refreshing compared from the photos that I immerse myself in with all of this prep. Everything is so colorful, overwhelming with details that the average person isn't going to notice. I mean, do people really pay attention to what the linen colors really are or what specific "theme" you were going for?! I'm really glad that the girl gene skipped me and this wedding is going to be simple and fresh and hopefully, low maintenance!

So I had to share some of my latest inspiration, here are some photos from my grandparents wedding, aren't they cute?!

•walking down the aisle, august 1946•

•cutting the cake•

•the end of the night•

•the hotel bill. there isn't a single item in our wedding that is going to cost that•

•sixty years later with their kids on the alaskan cruise•