Some of you know that

we enjoy lunch at a local Chinese place almost every Sunday after church.

They serve reasonably priced meals and dim sum, if you're more adventurous.

[Chicken feet, anyone?]

So we were leaving a couple of weeks ago and one of the gals at the register said, “See you next week!” and my sweetheart quickly responded thatwe’d probably be in China Town – NYC – then.

Her response: “Are you going to the New Year’s Parade?”

That's the first I’d thought of it because I thought Chinese New Year was the week before

due to some celebrations I’d seen on facebook of friends who have kids from China.

Lo and behold it WAS the weekend we planned to be there,

so we arranged things to be in that part of town.

Here's my take on it all ----

1. It's the year of the pig, you know -

2. Have a navigator that can get you to that part of the city easily - lol

3. Get there early to enjoy a little pre-parade celebrating!

It was so fun to see confetti and streamers flying through the air and covering the ground.

[And most people discarded the tubes to the side of the road to prevent falls.]

4. If you want to eat before the parade – make reservations.

Although one little store front took mercy on us and got us in –

the food was delicious and authentic.

[And the most reasonable priced meal we had in NYC.]

Can you see that we got our regular cashew chicken and sesame chicken?

Matt had won ton soup that looked delicious too.

5. Pay attention to the blocked off roads – turns out they are pretty smart and block them off so that you can see the parade without getting in the back-crushing crowds.

[We learned this AFTER exiting the most crowded area I’ve ever been in in my life.]

6. Join in with the popper / confetti celebration.

It was just so fun to see us all ‘let go’ and enjoy the celebration.

Craig got us a pack of large poppers and we had a little fun!

And I'll admit I had a hard time getting mine to pop -

Had to do the two handed twist - ha -

But I finally did it!

[BTW - LOVING my kavu over-the-shoulder bag!]

7. Wear your purse, wallet, anything of value, etc. in the front of your body

because people are SO CLOSE they are giving you a nice

[or not so] back massage as they pass behind you.

8. This ain’t Disney where walkways are blocked off.

[That's me in the bottom right -]

9. And, I’m not kidding, I think there was about half a million people out there with us –

There was a point when I felt so crushed that I realized there would be no hope if it got out of control. Matt wisely moved back next to the building.

10. Dragons are a Chinese main-stay. I LOVED THEM.

I love the colors and I love the traditional way of having people direct them to slither and sway throughout the parade route.

11. As I said, it’s the year of the pig – so it got plenty of attention too!

I need to look up exactly what the pig means for us this year.

12. Chinese Americans are proud of their heritage, but appear to be equally proud to be American. [US flags were displayed throughout the parade.] Politicians joined in the parade [without jeers], police / military forces marched in the parade,

as well as high school bands and groups.