Xin Nian Kuai Le

Xin Nian Kaui Le! Happpy Chinese New Year! I had saved this post for so long that when Chinese New Year started on February 7th, I forgot to publish it! Better late than never....the Lantern festival, the end of the 15 days of celebrating Chinese New Year is right around the corner!
This year is the year of the rat. If you were born on these years, you are a rat 1912 - 1924 - 1936 - 1948 - 1960 - 1972 - 1984 - 1996 - 2008) The Chinese word for rat is shu. If you are a rat, you are imaginative, charming, and truly generous to the person you love. However, you have a tendency to be quick-tempered and overly critical. You are also inclined to be somewhat of an opportunist. Born under this sign, you should be happy in sales or as a writer, critic, or publicist. Some Rats: Charlotte Bronte, Truman Capote, Catherine I, Mata Hari, Wolfgang Mozart, William Shakespeare, George Washington, Richard Nixon, Hugh Grant, Al Gore, Lady Bird Johnson, George H.W. Bush, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Carter, Pat Nixon, Howard Dean, Claude Monet and Antonio Banderas.
I am trying each year at Chinese New Year to take a picture of Lily dressed up in her Chinese finest and with the animal of the year. Luckily, my Timmy is a rat and so we had a cloisonnet rat from the factory in Beijing.