Getting Ready for Chinese New Year!

You may or may not know that Chinese New Year is tomorrow. I've been busy this week getting ready.

Even though I'm half Chinese we never really celebrated Chinese New Year in my house growing up. My Grandma would give us lucky money in a little red envelope, but that's really all I remember about it growing up.
Once I got older I looked into it, originally I thought it would be a good way to re-start already failed New Years resolutions :) hehe
 But the more I read, the more I became interested, the more I wanted to join in the fun. I'm going to share some of the things we do around here to ring in the New Year.
Now, I don't fully believe that organes are going to make the year run smoothly, or that wearing red means I'll make millions this year, but what's the harm in trying :)
So here's what we do:

• Finish un-finished projects.
• Clean the House, DEEP CLEAN the house. Think Spring Cleaning style, all the corners, under the beds, behind the fridge, the whole darn thing. If you don't have time to do the entire house, focus mainly on the kitchen.
• Clean out your fridge and freezer. Throw away anything expired.
• Go Grocery Shopping, start the New Year with a house full of food.
• Pay all of your outstanding bills, and, if possible, pay off all debt. It's not good to drag debt into the New Year. 
• Stop at the ATM and pull out a little extra cash (if there is any after paying off bills and debt) even if you pull out 20 one dollar bills, it's good luck to start the New Year with a "Fat" wallet.
• Bowls full of Fruit and Nuts around the house symbolize abundance. 
• Here's my Favorite Part: GO SHOPPING! Buy something New, Bonus points if it's RED.
• On New Years Day wear RED. It doesn't have to be head to toe red, just something. A red shirt, or even just an accessory!
• Buy 9 of the largest,  as close to flawless oranges you can find, display them on the kitchen counter. 

• Cleaning the Floors before New Years Day is to be done in a particular way. Sweep the dirt into the middle of the room. Don't sweep towards the doors, it's like sweeping your luck out the doors.

• On new years day don't forget to roll your perfect oranges across the front door threshold (think of it as rolling the luck in).

And Last:

• My second favorite part of Chinese New Year is that it's bad luck to Clean on New Years Day, all day. If you clean you will be cleaning away your luck! 
• It's also bad luck to use knives on New Years Day, so it's either prepare the food the night before or go out for dinner. So no cooking or cleaning that is reason enough for me to celebrate.

But the Most Important Part of Chinese New Year, is to spend it with Family and Friends! 

And if you're wondering what we bought new for Chinese New Year . . . . It's our DINING ROOM CHAIRS. We picked them up Yesterday! Can't wait to share.