Last evening, the stork flew in with the latest member of our extended family. Miss Ria Lee made her debut in Hong Kong much earlier than anticipated. She couldn't wait for her grandma to get there before announcing her arrival.

Both mother and daughter are doing well and tomorrow morning, grandma will be winging her way north to see them both. My niece is now the proud mother of an older boy and a baby girl.

Early next month there is the much-awaited marriage of another niece, the only daughter of my youngest brother. She flew in from Melbourne this morning and the next couple of weeks leading to her wedding will be most exciting for her. Her dad has spruced up the house with a new coat of paint and new furniture too.

The wedding date coincides with the birthday of my younger sister, also from Melbourne so it will be a double celebration. I'm eagerly looking forward to this most auspicious day as it will be a big reunion of siblings, relatives and friends.

Shortly after the wedding will be the next big celebration, the advent of the Lunar New Year, heralding the arrival of the Year of the Dragon. In fact December 22 is
the beginning of winter in the Lunar year and this is marked by the eating of "Tong Yuen" ( colorful round balls of glutinous flour with different sweet fillings, floating in a ginger based sweet syrup ).

Eating a bowl of tong yuen signifies that one is a year older.

Life is full of pretty rainbows.