Creating something from papier-mache in the doorway between the living room and front entry is not an activity for the faint-of-heart. But what choice do you have when you need to create a giant dragon mask in the deepest dark of winter?
Chinese New Year begins on Sunday and we are gearing up. It amazes me how this holiday has woven itself into the thread of our family life since we set about on our journey to Cate. Alex bounded off the school bus with enthusiasm I have not seen in months. The first grade began a unit on Chinese New Year today and he was filled with facts and lore that flowed from his usually silent mouth for at least thirty minutes. He concluded with an exuberant, "Except for Christmas, I love Chinese New Year the best!"
The second his coat and boots were shed, the crafting began. Cate had waited all day for Alex to come home and the projects to get underway. At school, Alex has made lanterns, "but just the usual, plain-old paper ones," he said, now a seasoned New Year craft maker. We cut our red poster board in half and he set about painting characters with gold paint to create New Year couplets to hang by the door. Cate and I set about our most ambitious craft project to date - creating the head of a dragon that we hope to use at our celebration on Sunday. We started with two cereal boxes taped to a giant punching balloon and covered it with strips of newspaper dipped in flour and water. Somehow we contained the mess - so far. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
After reaching the end of our creativity for the day, I made honey-ginger chicken stir fry in my new, highly satisfying wok. Everything about the wok is satisfying - from the Chinese language newspaper it came wrapped in - to its perfect shape. Best of all, the wok came with a little paper that promised that a good wok, like a good friend, if well cared for, will become better with time. Something about the little proverb gives the wok a life of its own - like I am already cooking with an old friend - a piece of history. Silly, I know, but I don't feel it for any of my other pots and pans. The whole family raved about the dinner, a nearly impossible feat, and Cate ate one piece of broccoli - her first since leaving China.
After dinner, Ales settled down to do his homework - putting a list of New Year's related words in alphabetical order - while Cate and I added another layer of paper and goo to our dragon head. Then we sat down and looked at our album from China. Cate is excited to see it now. She is proud to be from China and tells anyone who expresses the slightest interest. She lists all the friends she has from China and she is lucky to have quite a few. She points to the pictures and asks questions and makes statements like, "I am crying because I didn't know you yet." And Alex, from across the room, helps fill in the history with his own memories - how he felt on the plane, how many layers of clothes Cate was wearing when we met her, how they ate noodles together on the hotel bed on their first day as brother and sister. I love that he is a witness to her history and that it is his too. I love Chinese New Year because it pieces together all the magic and mystery and places that have created our family. I love these moments of peace and love and family bliss.
And then Cate tosses the balloon Alex has worked hard to blow up, and of course, it pops, and well... the tears and drama that follow are part of being a family too.
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