Goodbye, Dragon!

Tonight we went out for tuen leen fahn (New Year's Eve dinner).

A not-so traditional dinner for a not-so traditional Chinese family.

As we started our dinner, we heard the familiar drum beats that accompany the lion dance out on the street. Caleb loves dancing to beats, so he wanted to go outside to see what all the commotion was about.

Soon enough, three lions found their way into the restaurant and danced around our tables. Because there were three, it was hard for us to keep track of them all and often, one would pop up behind one of the boys scaring them.

One of them gave Caleb a fright but the girl inside was nice enough to smile and wave to him. I reassured him that it was just a lion costume and he seemed to be okay with the idea of lions. He cheered up and started roaring so I'm hoping that means I won't be up in the middle of the night with a little boy having nightmares.

The lions eventually left the restaurant and we continued chowing down on our (over) abundance of food in peace.

We bid farewell to the year of the dragon with full bellies and look forward to welcoming the year of the snake tomorrow morning!

Happy Chinese New Year!