Feeling “ratty”
 
This month was Lunar New Year which is the New Year’s celebration for several Asian countries. It’s Tet for Vietnam, Chinese New Year for China, and Lunar New Year for Korea. This year it’s the Year of the Rat. I always have plans to celebrate Lunar New Year to incorporate my children’s birth culture into our family life….and I seem to always fall short. I admit it is tough to step out of my comfort zone sometimes and to find a celebration we can join in or create our own. Some adoptive families have celebrations together and we’ve done this in the past which is fun too. This year we did go out to eat Korean food at our favorite local restaurant. I had planned to at least have the kids wear their hanboks which are traditional Korean outfits that are often worn on such holidays…but I didn’t get to it because my son was not feeling well. Trust me—a hanbok is not going to make him feel better! I’ve never worn one, but they are an ordeal to get on your child and often at his age a little too big. We did manage to read a few books about the holiday so all in all I did okay. I really feel it is part of my job as their parent to find ways to bring in Korean traditions and celebrations to our family and I promise I am working on it…even if I fall a little short sometimes.