We’d like to wish a Happy New Year to our Ningin readers. May you be happy and prosperous in the Year of the Ox! For our American readers, it’s also Year of the Obama. Our new President will be turning 48 this lunar calendar. A good sign of prosperity for sure!

I’d like to share this with you from President Barack Obama:

I send my warmest wishes to people across Asia, in America, and indeed around the world who are celebrating the Lunar New Year and welcoming the Year of the Ox. As they gather with their families and celebrate over meals, they welcome new beginnings and honor the enduring wisdom of their ancestors.

From the lion dances in San Francisco to festivals in Atlanta and parades in New York City and Washington, D.C., Americans of Asian descent carry on the vibrant traditions of their forefathers and enrich America’s cultural diversity. I wish all those celebrating the New Year to be blessed with peace, prosperity, and good health.

Well said, Mr. President!

When I was growing up, my favorite thing to say on Chinese New Year was “Hongbao na lai!” (紅包拿來!) It was fun while it lasted, but now it’s become a bitter pill. My family refuses to give me hongbao anymore, under the pretense that I’m “too old.”

Meanwhile, I’ll get messages from my Indo or Sing friends—who are well off and working, moved out into their own homes, sometimes not even living in the same country as their parents any more—bragging about how much hongbao they got this year, last year, and surely next year, too. According to their families, they get hongbao till they get married. What the hell, my family?!

So, to mark this year (number 4076 if you’re counting), let us come together and settle our differences. Let us move forward. Let us agree to receive and give hongbao until we get married. Age ain’t nothing but a number.

In case you didn’t know, in Chinese astrology they say that Ox people are the best friends you can have. So if you’re an Ox, please add me to your Ningin friends list!

And don’t forget my hongbao! ^_^