Chúc Mung Nam Moi

It's Chinese New Year. Although ppl still don't understand why us Vietnamese ppl celebrate Chinese New Year...it's because Chinese and Vietnamese follow the same lunar calendar.

Vietnamese people call New Year's...Tết.

Tết is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Lunar calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day. Tết shares many of the same customs of its Chinese counterpart. Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. There are a lot of customs practiced during Tết, like visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year, ancestral worshipping, wishing New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop.

Tết is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. During Tết, Vietnamese visit their relatives and temples, forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hoping for a better upcoming year. They consider Tết to be the first day of spring and the festival is often called Hội xuân (spring festival).

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E1%BA%BFt)

I dunno... this new years just wasn't the same. We didn't go down to Santa Ana and see the festivals. I didn't get my Hoa Mai tree. Going to my parent's house and having dinner.. well.. it was just so awkward... especially with all the drama going on. I dunno.