“Yeah !” I shouted loudly. My generous grandparents had just given me a red envelope with $100 in it! It’s an ancient tradition to give money in red envelopes on Chinese New Year! I was so electrified that I burst out of my room excitedly to show my mom and dad what I got from my sweet grandparents! Then I almost had a gasping heart attack! All over the walls, there were red, cut papers with straight-lined Chinese characters on them! I sniffed softly and smelled some delicious dumplings cooking. Even though Chinese New Year is 3 days from now we usually get prepared with it earlier. Even though nobody was here, in the room, I could almost hear the laughter of my younger cousins coming over and seeing all this! Do you want to know something? Well, red means good luck and happiness in the Chinese culture. “Hi, Ashie!” my dad called loudly from his room. “Hi!” I replied. “Do you want to go to the Asian Super Market to buy flowers?” my dad exclaimed. “Sure!” I answered. Soon after my dad got ready, he finally got on the car where I was waiting patiently. When we got to the Super Market my dad exclaimed, “Let’s go to the flower section and buy flowers with tiny buds to remind us that new things can always grow.” Can’t my dad be a little too smart? I guess he was born that way! When we got to the flower section I immediately grabbed the plant like a child grabs an ice cream cone and pulled it towards my eager body. We hurried away from the flower section to go to the busy checkout lane. “Wow!” my dad exclaimed.” I totally like the rosebud that you picked!” “Today seems so crowded in this store!” I babbled. “That’s because all these people are getting ready for Chinese New Year like us!” my dad stated. When we were back home, I could smell baked fish and chicken. We had a great feast! Do you know what our dessert was? Fresh rice pudding and some corn soup to bring good health. After our dinner, my mom called, “Let’s go watch the Chinese New Year parade on TV.” I couldn’t believe my eyes! Up in the starry night there were paper lanterns floating softly in the dark sky. Finally the Lion dancers came out! They played loud drums and cymbals. Out of the lions mouth hung red envelopes and green lettuce. The lion’s ear wiggled like a worm and the eyes quickly blinked. Really, there were people holding up the lion. There were gold, green,red and yellow lions. When the loin was done performing out came the dragon! The dragon is the sign of good luck and it means it’s the end of the parade! At exactly 12:00 am the fireworks started. At 12:00 am it is January 1st which is the start of a new year! We say Kong-Si-Fa -Cha, which means Happy New Year in Chinese. I encourage you to try saying Happy New Year in Chinese too. I hope that you can experience this exciting tradition and admire it as much as I do.