The Year of the Ox

Happy New Year!

When Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year happens, we all know what that means. And this morning just didn’t quite feel the same. So, we’ve asked our friends and yours, Tom and Christine Loo, to help us acknowledge and celebrate the new year….

Happy Chinese New Year! Or Lunar New Year, but my family always says Chinese New Year, maybe because we are Chinese.

Welcome to the year of the Ox.

Those born in the year of the Ox are honest and earnest. They are low key and never look for praise or seek the center of attention. This hides their talent but recognition is gained through their hard work. They do what is asked of them and stay within their bounds. They are kind and rarely lose their temper. They think logically and make great leaders.
Is this you? Ox sound great. Neither Christine nor I are Ox.

Growing up, Chinese New Year was a time for family and a grand New Year’s Eve dinner. As a kid, it was a dinner at home with parents, grandparents and siblings with fancy dishes, many of which we only ever had on New Year’s Eve. More recently, we have a large family dinner in a Chinese restaurant where my mom orders dish after dish and we all eat non-stop for two hours.

These celebratory dinners always end with a plate of cut oranges and fortune cookies. Finally, we exchange bright red envelopes with a few dollars inside, symbolizing good wishes and luck for the year ahead.

Every year since Christine and I just showed up at November Project Canada in 2014, we have shared this celebration with our November Project Canada family. We bring oranges to hand out, which are symbolic of good luck and good fortune. Weeks before, we check the calendar to see what day Chinese New Year lands on, to see if we will be bringing oranges on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. Then begins the dilemma: mandarins? navels?, tangerines? Do we bring 50 or 200? One year we went out the night before in search of 75 mandarin oranges and after four stores, realized it was too late in the year for mandarins. We ended up getting tiny little clementine oranges, which were truly symbolic, because there wasn’t much to eat.

To everyone in the November Project Canada community, we miss seeing your smiling faces, your encouragements, and your hugs and high fives. This year we send out virtual oranges to our NP family wishing you all good health, good fortune and much happiness.
Happy Chinese New Year!

P.S. To celebrate CNY in proper November Project Canada style, be sure to leave your orange outside in -30 weather for 30 minutes before eating!

~ Tom and Christine Loo

Announcements

• Monday is a holiday- check our social feeds for a special holiday Monday #abovethebelt challenge… there might be something around #warmhands and #warmhearts… just sayin

~togetherisbetter

Lazina

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