Angela left for Whole Foods yesterday to buy clementines for Chinese New Year. (The Chinese word for clementines is similar to luck, thus homes are filled with this fruit as a symbol of good fortune. The leaves, incidentally, represent strength and fertility.) She was gone well over an hour, surprising given that the store is less than half a mile from the house.

When she returned, she triumphantly laid out her bounty. Each fruit boasted the most glorious sprig of leaves, each uniformly matching the others. She then proceeded to wash them, lovingly, by hand. Having been wiped with a paper towel, she laid them out on a tray to thoroughly dry overnight. Looking upon them in all their gloriousness, I understood why she took so long to select them and I also knew that if fruit could really bring good fortune upon our home, these ones surely would.

We returned home this evening to find that our daughter’s nanny had removed the leaves from the clementines and put the fruit in a bowl ready to be eaten.

I welcome interpretation and forecast for the coming year.

Goon hei fat choi!