Wedding Blog

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Tomorrow is Lunar New Year (I refuse to call it Chinese New Year, because many other Asian cultures celebrate the new year based on the lunar calendar).

Anyway, like Mr. Canary explains it, it’s like Christmas for my family. Mama Canary has been cleaning the house every day this past week. The Asian grocery stores have been packed every day with shoppers stocking up on lucky foods (sweet candies and nuts, whole fish, noodles, etc.) Find some recipes here for standard New Year fare. A lot of these same foods are prepared for Chinese weddings as well because the symbolism holds the same significance.

This is also the best time for anyone who’s looking for lanterns or Asian motif decorations to go shopping in New York. Just head to Chinatown in Manhattan or Flushing in Queens and you will find shops loaded with red paper streamers, paper lanterns, and all sorts of fun red & gold decorations.

I also discovered some great Lunar New Year projects with free templates on HP’s site via How About Orange (another one of my favorite blogs!) Some are also perfect for creating favor boxes for an Asian-themed wedding.

{Image from here}

Lunar New Year also holds a special place in my heart because that’s when Mr. Canary proposed last year (except the exact date for the New Year changes with phases of the moon), but I’ve associated our engagement with the fun festivities of the holiday as well. It was so exciting to have my entire family already gathered and to tell them the good news!

I have one more day of work before I’m off visiting all my relatives and collecting on my last year of lai-see (or lucky red envelopes containing money). Next year, according to the custom that only married couples distribute lai-sees, Mr. Canary and I will have to start doling out the goods…

For anyone else celebrating, HAPPY NEW YEAR!