Chinese New Year

I haven't been to a Chinese New Year celebration that I remember.  But when I do think of Chinese New Year, I think of some videos of the parades I've seen.  I have seen all sorts of things, it's not really what you would expect compared to other parades like Santa parades or the Victoria Day parade in Fort Langley.  It's filled with joy and colour.  Just imagine stepping once inch forward and seeing all those colours in front of you.  That's what I would expect and that's what the videos have shown.  Kinda of like ribbons, it's not exactly still because everyone is moving.  The people in the parade are pretty much trained for months but if one thing goes wrong, it could spoil everything.  They use firecrackers as well, sometimes they jump and see everyone's reaction.  They use them to scare away evil spirits and bad luck.  I'm Catholic so I don't need big loud noises to get rid of creepy things (no offence.)  Instead we pray.  The little kids get dressed up in red and gold silk, I can almost feel the silk brushing my finger tips.  One thing I do like about Chinese New Year is the chocolate coins, it's sort of like Halloween.  I wonder if the kids try to keep them as long as possible so they can remember and taste how good the chocolate is for the whole year.  This is the first year of the monkey since I was born so it's sort of special to my class.  We were all born in 2004 and the next one won't be until 2028.