Celebrating the New Year

The extended family (including friends Shannon Jr., P. & S) celebrated the new year by going to a local Chinese buffet for dinner and horn blowing! Shannon Jr. impressed us all with her knowledge of the history of the Great Wall and China's contributions of the compass, silk and kites. K. chimed in that Big Bird was there! Also, the Monkey King was on the Great Wall. (Thank you Big Bird Goes to China!) The lady who served our drinks was very kind to the girls and tried to teach them "Happy New Year" in Chinese. She even gave them chopsticks held together with a rubber band and encouraged them to try them out. We were all impressed with their chopstick skills, especially when eating the hands down favorite, jello cubes! Looking forward to the next New Year's Eve night out when Baby D can forgo the formula for a jello square or two and Ellie will be with us too!

Sidenotes:
Found this "blog summary" of Big Bird Goes to China. Had a few giggles.
Interesting chopstick info from Wikipedia (my possible travel mates take note!):
It is important to note that the chopsticks are used in a large geographic area. While principles of etiquette are similar, the finer points may differ from region to region, and there is no single standard for the use of chopsticks. Generally, chopsticks etiquette is similar to general Western etiquette regarding eating utensils.
•Never wave your chopsticks around as if it was an extension of your hand gestures, bang them like drumsticks, or use them to move bowls or plates.
•Decide what to pick up before reaching with chopsticks (do not hover around or poke looking for special ingredients). After you have picked up an item, do not put it back in the dish.
•When picking up a piece of food, never use the tips of your chopsticks to poke through the food as if you were using a fork. Exceptions include tearing larger items apart such as vegetables and kimchi. In informal use, small, difficult to pick-up items such as cherry tomatoes or fishballs may be stabbed but this use is frowned upon by traditionalists.
•Chopsticks can be rested horizontally on one's plate or bowl to keep them off the table entirely. A chopstick rest can also be used to keep the points off the table.
•In Chinese culture, it is normal to have your lips touching the edge of the rice bowl and using chopsticks to push rice directly into the mouth. In Korean culture, it is rude to pick the rice bowl off of the table and eat from it.
•In Chinese and Japanese etiquette, the blunt end is sometimes used to transfer food from a common dish to your own plate or bowl (never your mouth). In Korea, the blunt handle end is not considered sanitary.
•Never stab chopsticks into a bowl of rice, leaving them standing upwards. Any stick-like object pointed upwards resembles the incense sticks that some Asians use as offerings to deceased family members.

Chinese etiquette
•Chinese traditionally eat rice from a small bowl held in the left hand. The rice bowl is raised to the mouth and the rice pushed into the mouth using the chopsticks. Some Chinese find it offensive to scoop rice from the bowl using a spoon. If rice is served on a plate, as is more common in the West, it is acceptable and more practical to eat it with a fork or spoon.
•A set of chopsticks are one of the wedding gifts normally presented to Chinese newlyweds as the Chinese words for "chopsticks" and "to bear a son soon" sound the same.
•It is acceptable to transfer food to people who have a close relation with you (e.g. parents, grandparents, children or significant others) if you notice they are having difficulty picking up the food. Also it is a sign of respect to pass food to the elderly first before the dinner starts (part of the Confucian tradition of respecting seniors).
•When communal chopsticks are supplied with shared plates of food, it is considered impolite to use your own chopsticks to pick up the food from the shared plate or eat using the communal chopsticks.

Environmental impact
In China alone, an estimated 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are used and thrown away annually. This adds up to 1.7 million cubic metres of timber or 25 million fully grown trees every year. To encourage that people use and throw away less, as of April 2006 a five percent tax is added to the price of chopsticks. This measure is part of the first tax package in 12 years.

Oh and it's a faux pas to wear them in your hair. Oops.