Chinese New Year

Year of the Snake; Celebrating, Sharing and Crafting

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The days are calm and quiet in Maine as we hunker down for snowstorm after snowstorm and do our best to stay protected from the frigid air. I look out the window with my coffee, and the bright sunshine streaming in seems like trickery from my warm perch. Lunar New Year festivities have now passed, and as you know by now, this is my favorite post of the year, recapping all of the events and special moments. 

This Year of the Snake 蛇年 was especially wonderful because my adult daughter attended every gathering. Sharing our traditions and being together takes me back to all the Lunar New Years and special Chinese cultural celebrations of her childhood and of course, all the years of making crafts. This being the snake year, some are also sharing the Legend of the White Snake as part of their cultural program. If you are inspired to take a deeper dive, look up this interesting piece of folklore; as with many ancient Chinese tales, it’s a wild ride.

Nothing can compare with having a few friends in my home for a festive evening of dinner and conversation. This year was no exception and my house was festooned with red and gold decorations and the dinner I prepared was (mostly) edible! Ginger beef and firecracker shrimp were my mains and I have to say so myself, my almond cookies from scratch were pretty good. The guests braved inclement weather, and there was much joy and laughter.

Our local library was the location for my first 2025 public event with Lucky Bamboo Crafts. We had a cozy nook right in the children’s area to make snake crafts and share the holiday traditions with preschoolers, homeschoolers, and the after-school crowd. Paiten, their fantastic librarian is always so enthusiastic and full of (craft-addicted) talent! We are a great collab.

On to Chinatown, Boston where I always know I need to level-up the make-and-takes, with both projects offered and quantity. We were hit with a New England heavy snowstorm the evening before, into the morning so I definitely felt like a Lunar New Year warrior to make it to the China Trade Center and get set up. But the people did come out, and it was a festive day to ring in the Snake. And as always, the couple of hours spent walking around Chinatown in the early evening after packing up the crafts were so very fun and delicious. 

Back to Maine for the local CAFAM Lunar New Year celebration. I spent the day in the Cultural Village overseeing the numerous craft tables I prepared and also sharing Lucky Bamboo Book of Crafts with some new customers! I guess if you stick around long enough, kids grow up and new kids move in, looking for creativity and culture. Yay! The CAFAM Board did a tremendous job planning and carrying out the event, and I felt lucky to be a part of it, even as just a volunteer member. This year the program included numerous Bates College student performers offering everything from traditional dance and instrumental performances to Chinese rap! I have such a long history with CAFAM, I never want to miss being a part of the action each year with my many friends 朋友们.

I don’t feel compelled to do a Spring dance quite yet with the snow piled high and several weeks to go before the true thaw. But these mostly indoor days are good for introspection, planning, resetting, being with friends, enjoying time with my daughter, and starting to carve out my next creative inspiration and new venture. I have recently left my longtime project manager position so like the snake, I am shedding some skin. I try and lean into these cycles of life as an opportunity to realign my priorities while getting caught up on the essentials. I know there is always down time and up time and do have some really fun adventures planned. It all can be equally fulfilling. Let’s fill our cups.

Creativity, Culture and Looking Ahead

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Hello Friends,

I know it’s been a minute but Lucky Bamboo Crafts is still alive and well! I’ve just had several life pivots that have pulled me away from focusing on my maker side. The biggest of which is I am leaving my longtime project manager job at the end of the year. That will certainly shake things up and offer me a reset.

My mind is already popping with creative ideas and plans for the extra bandwidth I will have of time and energy. I can put many more events and workshops on my calendar, including visiting schools during the week. You know by now that teaching kids about Chinese culture is my jam! I can also create more Chinese craft designs. And I will freshen up this site for sure, with new content, media, tutorials, etc…. it’s an exciting shift.

Self-marketing has never been my strong suit, but my ask is to please help me celebrate this leap by continuing to share my book and website. You can still pick it up from this site or Amazon, and my fulfillment co., Nataraj Books is selling it at a huge discount! It’s a great holiday gift.

Lunar New Year falls on January 29th, 2025 and is the Year of the Snake. I look forward to slithering into lots of celebrations and hope you’ll watch my calendar and come along! 

The Dragon is Awakened

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As I approach every Maine winter, I ponder how to “make the best of it”, knowing there are several frosty months ahead. Since the Lunar New Year doesn’t arrive until late January or February, making goals keeps me motivated and gives me some glimmers of enjoyment. I typically convince myself I will learn how to knit, make creative meals in my slow cooker, learn Mandarin, and do some cross-country skiing, just to name a few. It’s a similar list every single winter.

And then as we approach Lunar New Year, I start preparing for my Lucky Bamboo Crafts events and celebrations with friends. Life gets increasingly busy and my efforts are all focused around Chinese culture, food and crafts. These rituals warm my soul even while needing to bundle up, and bring me joy during what can be a long, bleak season in Maine when you stay put.

This lunar year’s mythical dragon is a wood element, and is identified with strength and good fortune, rising above all the other zodiac animals. Thanks, perhaps, to the dragon’s unleashed power I had a string of experiences and occasions with an especially auspicious quality. Schedule, weather, friendship, and fun all seemed to be in my favor. And my craft designs fell into place easily, with so much dragon-themed art already in my illustration archive.

I kicked it all off by hosting my annual little dinner party on Lunar New Year’s Eve. I think my hospitality was probably more notable than my cooking abilities, but having friends around my table, and my home festooned in red and gold was a perfect way to launch the holiday. And guests went home with a lantern garland gift along with their hongbao.

My first seasonal craft date was Love Weekend in the MakerSpace at Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine where we had a dual celebration of crafts for Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day. As always, the staff was beautifully prepared, and such great company. Every time I visit that museum, I pinch myself at what a stunning, tremendous addition it is in the Portland Thompson’s Point area for young and old visitors.

Our local Falmouth Middle School holds an annual school-wide cultural celebration and I was so pleased to be invited by the library staff this year to give an author talk. I shared some Lunar New Year traditions while guiding crafts (of course!). I felt a little rusty since my classroom teaching days were so long ago, and now I had all those 6th-grader sets of eyes on me. But it was the last period before their winter vacation, so although I could take no credit for the amiable mood, it worked to my benefit and I could do no wrong.

Boston Chinatown was my next destination, and the excitement was in the air. I’ve been attending this Chinatown Main Street event in the China Trade Center for enough years now that I have annual families who come looking for me! It’s a great feeling and motivates me to bring a good array of different crafts each year. Nothing compares with being in Chinatown, and on the sparkling, mild day with Mayor Wu making the remarks, the crowds seemed the largest in several years, enjoying the events, lion dances, restaurants, and fireworks.

I wrapped up my event schedule with the CAFAM Lunar New Year celebration in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It fell on the Lantern Festival holiday, always the last day of Lunar New Year, which offered a perfect bookend with the full day of speakers, food, crafts, activities and (yet another) stunning performance by Chinese Folk Art Workshop. The kids loved being invited on stage after the show to meet the performers almost as much as the performance, itself!

So circling back, I can report I did end up finding some winter diversions…. no knitting but I constructed those cute aforementioned lantern garlands. No winter slow cooker (although better-late-than-never corned beef and cabbage is simmering now), but I’ve been testing the new air fryer that my family gave me for Christmas. No great Mandarin progress, but I was able to enjoy social environments where Mandarin was spoken and I could hope for osmosis, and no skiing (well, surely the lack of New England snow this year is not my fault), but I did skate a few blissful loops on our local ice.

Now we are talking spring. My beautiful daughter will celebrate her 22nd birthday soon and will be graduating from college. I am meeting wonderful people through my advocacy work to help get through these tough months of national politics and increasing world conflict. And yes, I will continue to feed my creativity by designing more cultural crafts, while also getting my hand back with some painting in gouache. Art has always been a soothing antidote for stress and worry, and I feel I have some ideas I need to bring to life. The full symphony of the new season will not arrive in Maine for a few more weeks but I’ve seen some green nubs and a couple of bright crocuses poking up in my yard. A tiny whisper that there are good things to come.

Good Luck Arrives

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February can be a hard, icy month in the Northeast. But my heart and spirit (and stomach) were warmed on February 13th when I traveled to Boston to share crafts in Chinatown at the China Trade Center. The annual celebration was back with hundreds of excited visitors enjoying the street parade, firecrackers, traditional lion dances, and indoor activities.

How I had missed the collective energy of ringing in the Lunar New Year and being able to make crafts and “Fu” decorations with the kids to ensure good luck would arrive. The weather was fierce (as always, in mid-February) but we all braved the snow with the determination of the Tiger. And no trip to Chinatown would be complete without enjoying a delicious meal and soup dumplings at a local spot! It was perfect sustenance for the journey back to Maine.

Now that we are into our new year, I am mapping out my Chinese culture activities for the rest of 2022. I hope to bring Lucky Bamboo Crafts back to the Riverfront Recapture Dragon Boat Festival in Connecticut over the summer. I also continue to be active in CAFAM events and initiatives here in Maine, although I will be stepping down as president after being “in office” since 2018. I look forward to less leading and more doing!

Other than that, life is quiet again, but I’m amping up for an adventure to the Pacific Northwest and Vancouver BC. Oh, how I’ve dreamed of this road trip for years! Knowing me, it will basically be a food tour. I’ve never been big on acronyms but YOLO does seem to be chiming in my head. The pressures and violence around the globe are so disturbing, and I am mindful of how important it is that kindness and gratitude be a constant. Having the ability and resources to take a little vacation in April for myself feels like a real gift. Hopefully, I can pay it forward.

The Tiger’s Roar of Winter

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Happy 2022! So, do we share these good wishes with mild sarcasm and air quotes or are we sincerely optimistic it will be a much better year?  How can we still be dashed by covid? How can people still not be vaccinated? My immediate family continues to be healthy, but I take it all very personally since one is a front-line healthcare provider that is regularly treating covid-positive unvaccinated people. Can you feel my blood boil?

Well, you get the idea I’m sure, and before I go too deeply into that rabbit hole I will pivot. Maine in January is a chilly, snowy undertaking but the days are gradually brighter and activities, goals and plans for the new year are underway. The biggest holiday on my calendar is the Lunar New Year. We will celebrate the Year of the Tiger on 2/1/22. I’m very involved in two in-person events with Lucky Bamboo Crafts (that will hopefully survive omicron and stay scheduled) and you can get details on the calendar. Time to come up with some new tiger crafts and get the creativity going again!

My daughter will have returned to college so I will have to send a Chinese New Year package and hong bao to campus. (I doubt she reads my blog so this might even remain a surprise!) The school holiday break of nearly a month is winding down, and as a parent, letting her out of my grip never seems to get easier.

But I will carry on with winter with a peaceful spirit. When the weather isn’t too extreme (with bitter cold or blizzard conditions) I find so many ways to enjoy and appreciate Maine each day. Working remotely certainly makes it easier, but comfort food (porridge! soup! a bamboo steamer of dumplings!), and trying to spend time outdoors daily helps me beat the winter blues.

It is also a time of renewal for my advocacy areas of focus. There are so many ways to be “a helper” as Mr. Rogers always used to point out. We are still in a difficult place, but hopefully your life involves more real hugs, your kids are active and healing from their losses, and we all have brighter days ahead.

Spring Festival – Year of the Ox – And the New Normal?

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Hello friends,

I’m sharing my thoughts ahead of Chinese New Year, since we will be enjoying the February 12th holiday virtually, this year. When I look back on 2020 and all the fun and festivities I participated in both with CAFAM and Lucky Bamboo Crafts, I’m stunned at how long ago it seems.

Virus, politics, and the world spinning ’round…. not to mention (but I will) personal changes and challenges have made the months seem endless. The upshot has been a slowing of Chinese craft efforts, even though one would think I would have “more time” for these pursuits. Nope…. life has felt constantly arduous, and perhaps the lack of in-person event opportunities has also mellowed my motivation to get my game on. Enough whining, I know….. in the scheme of things how bad do I REALLY have it….?

So here we are in 2021 and the days are getting brighter, the vaccine queue is getting shorter, and do we dare think about late spring and summer in any confident way? You tell me. I have a college student sidelined remotely as her campus tries to pare down their numbers (shshsh that’s kind of nice for Mom!) but it’s yet another thing that feels off-kilter-ish.

A bright spot is our upcoming CAFAM Lunar New Year virtual event. It goes live on New Year’s Eve (Feb. 11th) and I hope you will check it out. Offering leadership (and crafts) to the CAFAM mix has been a good way to stay connected to my board and also celebrate the holiday! Other than that, I’m just trying to keep a positive outlook a day at a time and feel gratitude. Always.  新 年 快 樂!

Lunar New Year – 2020

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Welcome to my favorite post of the year, when I get to reflect and share the Lunar New Year festivities for Lucky Bamboo Crafts. As I write this annual post detailing the events that crowded my schedule, my memories go to experiences more than crafts. We rang in the Year of the Rat and also the year of the coronavirus. This made for an unusual and complicated Chinese holiday season. Navigating the planning, collaborating with the Chinese and non-Chinese communities, and just the general solemn and concerned atmosphere impacted both directly and indirectly, all my events and how I handled my participation and leadership. But along with all the bad news of how serious the crisis has become, there was plenty of joy and celebration.

I think if my Lunar New Year events had started today, that wouldn’t have been the case and there would have been far more disruption and low attendance, because of how much the outbreak has grown. This was so apparent as I watched the Four Continents skating competition coverage last Sunday (figure skating is my jam) and the camera panned to the audience of thousands of white and black dots… everyone… I mean everyone with masks. And it was in South Korea, not China. I’ve worn those masks in China during both SARS and H1N1. The stress, fear, isolation, and uncertainty being reported brings back vivid memories and my heart goes out to those suffering, quarantined and displaced. Ok, well on to my chronicle…..

The Peabody Essex Museum Chinese New Year event is always such a treat! The place was packed with families eager to watch the performers and belly up for some crafts. As always, I had terrific museum folks guiding the way and offering help. I was set up in the new wing atrium; what a beautiful space with light streaming in. I can’t wait to visit in the warmer months and enjoy the new garden court. I wrapped up the day with an early dinner with my dear friend Heidi, a Salem, MA “local” before heading north.

At our after school volunteering site in Portland, my daughter and I taught a lesson to the class on Chinese New Year. This always encourages the kids to share their own rich stories of holidays they celebrate. Along with the numerous students from African countries, a lovely, young Vietnamese student looks forward to getting up each year and sharing the similarities to China of her Tết family traditions. The kids always enjoy having one of their peers help lead the discussion and compare cultures with us as a “co-teacher”.

Our local event with the Chinese & American Friendship Association of Maine (CAFAM) was by far my biggest commitment. I was in charge of the entire event this year, not only the crafts. I’d say the biggest feather in my cap was bringing a top-notch performing group up from the Boston area, Chinese Folk Art Workshop as our main stage act. And just as our board thought our planning was pretty solid, we found out that two NY Chinese Consulate officials were going to fly up to attend. We felt grateful that they would make the trip and worked a small welcoming ceremony into the day. Thankfully, my Chinese friends on the board could help with the language challenges and appropriate protocol!

The day was also filled with workshops, crafts (of course), food, and demonstrations. Whew! My daughter handled the Lucky Bamboo Crafts table while I scrambled around. Good weather, hard-working people and commitment to the cultural mission of our event all were in our favor.

Chinatown! Who doesn’t love Chinatown? The day after the large CAFAM event, I shook off the fatigue and headed to Boston with my daughter/co-crafter for a day at the China Trade Center. We were lucky enough to have several friendly and energetic teens from the local Chinese community help us throughout the day, and the folks from Chinatown Main Street welcomed us warmly, now that we’ve participated in several of their cultural events. This always feels like an outing more than a workday, even with several hours spent at the tables with families passing through and enjoying the projects. The lion dancers come and see us, gobbling up red envelopes from the children. We can hear the firecrackers outside, and never leave town without a delicious meal at a local restaurant. My daughter also grabbed a bubble tea for the road, and I think Kung Fu Tea is now a new favorite stop.

The Lantern Festival on February 8th was the perfect time to wind up my activities and events. Seems I had now come full-circle, ending up at my local library with Chinese animal zodiac activities. The children’s librarian, Jill does such an amazing job, and after the previous two days of icy, inclement weather, this was a great morning for families to connect, catch up, and shake off the winter chill.

So now the lanterns have come down and the crafts are packed up. What will spring bring? Projects and craft planning. Focus on my job, causes, politics and the people and things I care about. A college decision from my daughter along with an 18th birthday. A heavy heart for her mom. And the knowledge that the future will be bright for our family, even if very different. Thanks for stopping by!

Gratitude in the New Year

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Hello, my friends and thanks for checking in to see what’s new at Lucky Bamboo Crafts. The year is winding down and many of you have already celebrated one or more holidays. I hope you are enjoying the gifts of the season with family and friends, while always remembering those that are alone, financially challenged, sick or suffering; those for which the holidays can be especially tough.

The Maine Chinese Conference in Bangor in October was a great place to network with many different factions that are committed to language education, along with introducing folks to what CAFAM and Lucky Bamboo Crafts can offer. I enjoyed wearing both hats and was lucky to have Shannon, a fellow board member spend the day in Bangor with me.

Jen and Shannon with Jing Zhang, Director

Maine Chinese Conference

Lunar New Year seems so close (January 25th, 2020), and our planning is in full swing for our Maine CAFAM celebration including a fantastic performance troupe from Boston. I have also been offered the coveted spot with Lucky Bamboo Crafts to be in charge of crafts at both Peabody Essex Museum and Boston Chinatown again this year. This always fills me with pride and just a wee bit of panic, since they are both such huge events. But I am testing out some craft ideas (yes, including rats!) and thinking about fun materials and it always comes together. Before I know it, there will be smiling little faces and scraps flying. Please check out my events calendar for the details.

This has been a challenging 2019, trying to give my best to my job, keep engaged in Chinese culture, carry the leadership of CAFAM and navigate my daughter’s senior year, along with some other family challenges. And of course the rest of life… volunteer service, friends, and even too many dentist appointments! But as we turn the page and ring in 2020, there is always an opportunity to get on a fresh track with gratitude and renewal. That’s my plan.

Xīnnián kuàilè! (Happy New Year)

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Lucky Bamboo Crafts

If you follow the lunar calendar as I do, you know today is Lantern Festival, the 15th and last day of the Chinese New Year holiday. What a perfect time to review the amazing weeks I’ve had partaking in celebrations for ‘Year of the Pig’ all across New England and sharing Lucky Bamboo Crafts. Most of the events included my daughter’s help and company (and driving on her permit) which was the best! I know this is a long post but I’m proud of the great attendance and cultural education at every one of these events and wanted to include as much as possible.

Sure, I put a lot of work into designing and planning the crafts, but also had enthusiastic and incredibly professional, welcoming hosts at every event. I loved meeting inspired parents, grandparents, educators and hundreds of excited kids, ready to roll up their sleeves and make some crafts. Many children even wore Chinese attire, hairstyles and accessories to show their (adorable) passion for the culture and holiday.

Ok so let’s get started! First was the Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine. CAFAM and the CMTM have been mutually hosting some cultural events and it’s been a great partnership! We made mini-lanterns and offered tastes of Tang Yuan. A local Korean organization also brought some wonderful displays and snacks since the museum wanted to highlight the connections of different Asian lunar celebrations.

Next came our local CAFAM event. I was invested heavily in the months of planning all aspects of the day with our board members including numerous craft tables. Whew! We had a wonderful celebration and even hosted a special guest erhu musician from Boston.

Our volunteer site, LearningWorks was the perfect place to share some cultural fun since the children from many countries that are in that after school program are always teaching me so much about their own cultures. The teachers were so kind to turn over their busy classes to us to make dragon puppets and talk about this time of year in Asia.

Merrill Memorial Library right here in town hosted a small event through their children’s library program. Although they’ve had my book in their stacks for years, this was the first time we’ve been invited to offer activities, and it was a great opportunity to meet our local neighbors!

Peabody Essex Museum is always a beautiful venue to host Lunar New Year and build upon their great collections of Chinese art and many Asian-themed activities throughout the year. They have a huge maker space that is equipped for the crowds. The fan project we offered was perfect for toddler through teen, and kids (and parents!) got really creative with the embellishments. They had a fun lantern riddle hunt throughout the museum too!

How we love our Boston Chinatown friends! Bringing crafts to the Chinatown Main Street celebration was a perfect way to round out the holiday. Our craft table in the China Trade Building was a popular hub, even with all the action going on around us. And our young Chinatown friend CG comes and finds us every year and loves helping out. Once we wrapped up, we made sure to linger in Chinatown for a nice meal while the firecrackers popped and the lions munched on their offerings outside the restaurant.

And in other news, I have recently accepted the president position for the Chinese & American Friendship Association of Maine. I look forward to new and exciting events, initiatives and working with wonderful people both on the board and in the community in 2019. Along with that, I’ve been updating my website with new links and projects so do check back from time to time. Now that I’m back in Maine, I’m tidying and storing the sprawl of craft projects and supplies around here as we still dodge snowstorms every few days. But spring will come.

Rejuvenation

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As we enjoy the holiday season in Maine, I find reasons for gratitude at every turn. I try and give where I can, be compassionate, and reflect on what was a good year. This hasn’t been an easy time to peddle kindness in this country. But perhaps the holidays will bring out the best in people and also offer a fresh start for anyone that feels their selfish, divisive or small-minded behavior in 2018 didn’t really work for them.

So where else is there rejuvenation? Well, right here at Lucky Bamboo Crafts! My redesigned website is finally launched. It combines the essentials from the earlier version with a whole lot more to explore. My hope is for this new site to constantly grow and change as I add content, have new adventures with my book, and offer usable Chinese culture printables, ideas and instructions just for you!

As always I’m looking forward to the Lunar New Year festivities in February and have many craft events on the schedule for ‘Year of the Pig’. Please check out my calendar for details and come join in the fun! Wishing everyone happy, healthy and joyful holidays and I’ll see you in 2019!