Happy Chinese New Year

I know that Chinese New Year was on February 19th this year, but our favorite Chinese restaurant celebrated the holiday last night.  Celebrating Chinese new Year is something that our family has been doing for many years.  It's a fun night with good food and entertainment.  It's a chance for us to get together with friends and family and enjoy!

We have been blessed to make some really amazing friends at our favorite Chinese eating establishment and over the years they have become family to us.  We are greeted every visit with a warm hug and teasing just as you would with your own family.  Our Joy Luck family has become a very important part of our lives.  They have been with us through it all.

When we first started going to the celebration our party was small just the four of us, but over the years our numbers have grown and this year we had 13 people at our table.  If you've never been to a Chinese New Year celebration you should really try to go.  The dragon dancers are amazing.  This long dragon dances around the restaurant to the beating of a drum that in and of itself is an art.  The dragon dances and guests feed the dragon money and as the story was told to me  the dragon will bring you luck.

Sitting there at the table last night amid all the noise and confusion I found myself reflecting on years past,  who we have had at our table and the blessing that these people are in our lives.  I can not image what my life would be like without these amazing people.  I also felt the loss of not having Taylor at our table again this year.  He loved his Chinese food and he loved Chinese New Year. Every time we order his favorite dish I think of him.

Chinese New Year has been a tradition in our family and each time we celebrate a tradition I'm filled with sadness because it's just another reminder that someone is missing.  I love our traditions, but there are many times that I wish we didn't have so many.  I also think it would be nice to just not celebrate our old traditions and start new ones, but I can't do that either.  So many happy memories are tied to those traditions and maybe one day those happy memories will overshadow the sad ones that I feel now.  But until that day comes, I hope those around me can forgive my sudden burst of tears and the melancholy that overpowers me at times and remember that I am grateful for them and the traditions that they share with us.