Happy Chinese New Year!

Obviously, I’m not Chinese, but I’m actually really excited for this Chinese New Year, because it’s the Year of the Dragon! That’s the year it was when Justin & I were born, so it’s pretty cool that it’s “our year” again!

So what did we do to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2012? We had our own “Reunion Dinner” {a tradition of the Holiday}- Chinese food! Since I’ve been sick for over a week & wasn’t exactly up for going out, we had something even better & easier- P. F. Chang’s Home Menu noodle entrees! They take almost no work to make & so even though I’m still feeling under the weather, I was still able to pull together a meal that all three of us like that is hot & yummy, and in this case, festive!

We were sent a fun kit from P.F. Chang’s to help celebrate the Chinese New Year, including two coupons for P. F. Chang’s Home Menu noodle entrees, red paper lanterns, a cute shirt, and a special Red Envelope, which is another tradition. During Chinese New Year celebrations, Red Envelopes are usually given containing money- so ours contained a gift card to P.F. Chang’s restaurant- we’re excited to go there on a date night!

I’ve decided to turn this into a fun educational “lesson” for Shane- teaching him about the Chinese New Year. Tonight, we hung up red paper lanterns in his doorway & tomorrow I’m going to show him all the different animals that are a part of the calendar. I hope to turn this into a several-day lesson, which will include telling him about the traditions of the Holiday {including the reunion dinner we already feasted on & the red envelope we opened}, reading him stories about it & even singing or listening to some of the fun songs I found online. I’m really excited since I’ll be learning a lot of this right along with him!

Be sure to check out P.F. Chang’s on Twitter & Facebook– on Facebook, they even have a fun app where you can open your own Red Envelope to win prizes!

Do you celebrate the Chinese New Year? What Animal’s Year were you born in?

Susie’s Note: I received the kit mentioned to help my family celebrate the New Year but all opinions are my own & all experiences are authentic.