To celebrate Chinese New Year around here,1) Alternate side parking was suspended, which I didn't realize until after I'd already moved my car, and
2) The girls and I had Chinese take-out for dinner.
I just read an article in a magazine yesterday about a perfect little Chinese New Year party for 8-year-olds, complete with astoundingly clever crafts, a dragon living room parade, healthy homemade dim sum and cupcakes topped with cherry red fortune cookies and sparklers. Pah! Not to be outdone, we walked up to Szechuan Garden, the closest of many horrible Chinese places in the neighborhood, and ordered rice, noodles and lots of greasy fillers that were supposed to be meat and vegetables.
On the walk up there I considered this video I just saw last night on Katy's blog, and thought maybe I wasn't teaching Hazel enough about the world. So I gave China a shot. We have some Chinese friends here so there's a little context. So I told her who we know that are Chinese and that they're from a place far away and today is a special holiday for them. Then she said, "Yeah, and I am Chinese!" I said, "No, you're not from China. You're from Colorado." This only resulted in sulking and mumbling, "I wish I was Chinese..." I'm so proud of these enlightened teaching moments we share...
When we got home Picky-Eater Ginger scarfed all the greasy morsels she could get her hands on while Pretty-Tolerant Hazel refused to take a single bite of anything, even with bribes of fortune cookies and ice cream, informing me with emphatic hand gestures that everything before her was, "Disgusting!" I think if she knew it was all completely non-nutritional she might have at least tried it, but we'll never know. In the end Ginger and I split the fortune cookies. I threw the stupid one away but kept the other just to share with you. Ready?
Treasure your good memories and you need not worry about ending a banquet.
Consider and interpret.
