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As Chinese New Year approaches, my family is ready to prepare for New Year's feasting. The traditional thing we do every year is to make sticky rice cakes that consist of sticky rice, green beans, and pork that is formed into a cylindrical shape and wrapped with banana leaves and it is bound together with a long string. Then, we put it all in huge pots on brick stoves and boil it to perfection, which usually takes twenty-four hours, it is tended by my grandfather. The aroma of sticky rice cakes pervades through the house as it is coming out of the pots.

In the past, it was New Year's Day when people came to our house and wished us all well, we cut out slices of sticky rice cake and served it to our guests along with tea and lucky candies. My younger sister and I usually acquired red envelopes from the guests. The envelopes were filled with money. On the second day of New Year, my grandfather went to his friends' houses and wished them well, he received the same treats as well. He also bestowed red envelopes to children at his friends' houses. In our culture, we believe that New Year is the day that we can throw the old things away and start a new year with joy and prosperity.