Happy (Vietnamese) New Year!

Happy New Year! Today is the first day of the Vietnamese and Chinese New Year. It's the year of the cat if you're Vietnamese and rabbit if you're Chinese. I have no idea what that means for me, but I'm excited to celebrate with all the food and festivities. We have much to celebrate as our newest addition, Baby Kate, turns one month old tomorrow! My mother will be coming over today with some Vietnamese dishes that are traditionally eaten during this time. We'll also be taking Marisa to check out the Tet Parade and Festival in Little Saigon to hopefully catch a dragon dance and some fireworks.

It gets pretty crazy in Little Saigon around this time (think Disneyland at the height of summer + Asian drivers = chaos) but the flower market is full of beautiful yellow forsythia bundles, pink blossoms, exotic fruits, food, and lots of fun little toys for the kids. Here are some spots to check out if you dare to put up with the traffic down there...

The flower market on Bolsa between Magnolia/Brookhurst

2011 Tet Parade, http://www.westminster-ca.gov/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=438&targetid=1

The Tet Festival at Garden Grove Park, http://tetfestival.org/

Decking the Halls

Marisa and I have been reading Fancy Nancy's Splendiferous Christmas since Thanksgiving. She was more than ready to go pick out our tree and help decorate it this past weekend. This was the first year she could really participate, so I was excited to document it with my camera. We get our tree from Armstrong's Nursery. Not as fun as the hay rides in the Christmas tree farm complete with petting zoo and hot cocoa like I had as a kid growing up in Texas, but I always feel confident we're getting good quality trees that will last until the New Year. Here's Marisa picking out our tree and getting excited as Daddy brings it into the house...

Grandpa stopped by to help decorate as well. They were so cute doing it together, I was able to refrain from dictating exactly where each ornament needed to go! (Okay, I admit, after she went to bed, I might have rearranged a few.) We completed the tree the next morning. I saved the tree topper for Marisa because it's a huge part of the Fancy Nancy Christmas story.

Mele Kalikimaka!