The Busiest Tet in the U.S

So, Tet is finally over. In Vietnam, everyone have returned to their normal life after a week of Tet. I just had a good Tet festival with my family and it would be the most memorable one. Now, in this post, I will share with you why it is memorable to me.

Tet of 2023, the year of Cat, marked the 8th Tet of mine in the U.S. As you know, in here, we don't have days off like in Vietnam because Tet is still a normal day. But in here, we still celebrate Tet like in Vietnam. Sometimes I wanted to come back to Vietnam to celebrate Tet with my family. Due to my work, I could not do it. Of course it must be so sad because Tet is the time for everyone to get together. Tet in America has its unique. For example, we can fire firework which is banned in Vietnam, wear ao dai, or go to temple. Overall, if there is Vietnamese community, there will be Tet.

Tet of 2023 is the most memorable and special to me. Not because it is the best one, it is the busiest Tet. A few of you might know, Tet of 2023 came earlier than other years. December 25th, we celebrated Christmas. January 1st, we celebrated New Year. Then, only three week from January 1st, Tet was coming. Everything was coming fast at the same time. There are three people in my family. Me, my mom, and my grandmother. Normally, my grandmother would help me and my mom to prepare for Tet. But in 2022, she had a small stroke so she got weaker and could not do much. My mom and I splitted every job in the house to prepare faster. My mom would cook. I would go shopping to buy stuff for Tet and clean the house.

Getting ready for Tet began on January 11th (December 20th according to moon calendar). I went to Home Depot to buy cleaning merchandise for house, and for cars (I didn't know who possessed me and I wanted to wash my mom's and my car by myself even though I hadn't done it before.) On that afternoon, I began to clean from the bathrooms of my house. Then, after dinner, I cleaned the kitchen to prepare for the ceremony to send the Gods of Kitchen (Tao Quan) to the Heaven Court. With only the kitchen, it took me from 9 p.m to 1 a.m to clean everything. I scrubbed, I polished, I changed the cover of the wall, I cleaned the stove top, and I organized the cupboard as well as the cabinets. On the next morning, after I came back from work, I went shopping at a Vietnamese supermarket to buy fruits and food to prepare for Tet. Oh my God, the parking lot was too full. I spent half an hour finding a spot. Getting into the supermarket was a nightmare because it was too crowd. Everyone were there with the same purpose. Be prepare for Tet. The line to the checkout was super long. After coming back from the supermarket, I changed my clothes and began to clean the car. On Saturday, I had to wake up early to help my mom to get ready for the ceremony to send the Gods of Kitchen to the Heaven Court.

Then, we entered the week of Tet. It was busier than the previous week. On Monday, I helped my mom to pick up some food. On the next day, after I came home from work, my mom and I visited my great grandfather's resting place to decorate his grave and invited him to celebrate Tet with us. After that, we went to Costco to buy two pots of yellow chrysanthemum for decoration and a bottle of champagne for Giao Thua. Following that, we went to another Vietnamese supermarket to buy candies, meats, and more flowers. On Wednesday, I had my day-off and cleaned my house. It was so strange that this year, I cleaned everything so detailed. I cleaned from every corner to every space of my house. It's true when I wanted to do something, I would do it without getting tired. On Friday, me and a friend of mine went to the Hsi Lai Temple to take pictures with our ao dai, which were designed by a tailor shop. After that, I went to the back to get some money to give to my mom. It has been my tradition that I saved some money to give my mom on every Tet.

On Saturday, I had to wake up early to help my mom with the reunion dinner, which my relatives would come at noon to celebrate with us. We had a lot of fun. In the evening, we prepared for Giao Thua. My mom boiled a chicken and I laid out the fruits. Then, we facetimed with our families in Vietnam to wish them on the First day of New Year because when we called, it was the First day in Vietnam. Exactly at 12 a.m, we began to ceremony. From my house, I could listen to the sound of firework. It was official we were entering the year of Cat. After the ceremony, my mom gave me the lucky money (li xi). She is always the first person who does that. Twenty minutes later, we welcomed a special guest to get into our house of the First day of New Year. I shared with you about this tradition in the series of Tet last time. If you want, you can read it. The first person who gets into your house on the First day of New Year can affect your whole family in a year. My cousin was the chosen one for this year. She brought the luck and the joy to my family. She stayed for twenty minutes because she had two more houses need to come before the night ended. My mom and I finished the bottle of champagne while talking about memories back in the days.

On Sunday morning, it is the First day of Tet, I woke up at 7h30. According to the time, I must get out of the house between 7am and 9am because that time was a sacred time for me. They believed that if you get out of the house at a specific time based on your zodiac, you will be lucky. I put on my ao dai and came into my mother's room to be her stylist. After that, we went to the altar to pray, then we began to celebrate Tet. We went to my mom's friend's places. She had two best friends here. It had been our tradition for two years. When I came to their houses, they gave me lucky money. I must say they had so much money. At 10am, we went to my aunt's house to get her family to go to temples. Together, we went three temples in the area. Bát Nhã, Quan Âm, và Điều Ngự. Tet fell into Sunday this year, so everyone had their day off. At the end of the day, we went to my mom's uncle and gambled.

On the Second day of Tet, because I had to go to work, at noon, me and my mom went to Huệ Quang temple to pray. I cast coins too (I also mentioned this tradition in the Tet series before). My prophecy for this year is ok. My job is good, my family is fine, my love is blooming, but my money is not good, which means I will waste so much money this year. Then, we came to our family doctor to wish them a happy Tet. In the evening, I had my high school reunion party. We hadn't seen each other for three years. But some of them are still in touch with me. I must say they are my nightmare. If I have times, I will tell you that story. We had fun. I won the bingo game for $30. Yay!!!!

The Tet of 2023 is the busiest Tet ever. This year, I helped my mom to take care a lot of things in the house. But in the end, that was the best Tet so far because once I put my hands in it, everything must be good.