恭喜发财！ 新年快乐！ Happy Spring Festival! Happy Lunar New Year! It’s the year of the tiger! When I (Mary Elizabeth) was in my 20s, I lived in China for five years. I had never heard of Spring Festival until I moved there. Wow! The Chinese people invented fireworks, and they put American fireworks displays to shame! I have never been more amazed or (at times) afraid for my life than while I was watching them. The fireworks went off for hours every night for two weeks!
Many of you have family members back in Asia or China who are celebrating together (春运）。 For those of you who cannot be with your parents or cousins or other family members, I am sorry, and I hope you can still virtually connect and enjoy celebrating here by wearing red, eating lots of jiaozi (my favorite food, as you can see in my picture!), and by your children receiving many “hong bao” (red envelopes).
笑口常开! May your year be filled with an abundance of smiles and laughter!
Mary Elizabeth Maynard and Courtney Yarbrough
恭喜发财！ 新年快乐！春节快乐！农历新年快乐！虎年吉祥！我（玛丽·伊丽莎白）20多岁的时候，在中国生活了五年。直到我搬到那里，我才听说过春节。哇！中国人发明了烟花，让美国的烟花相形见绌！我从来没有比我看着他们时更惊讶或（有时）害怕我的生活。两周内，烟花每晚都会燃放几个小时！
你们中许多人的家人在亚洲或中国有一起庆祝。对于那些不能与父母或亲友在一起的人，我感到遗憾，我希望你们仍然可以穿红色衣服，吃很多饺子（我最喜欢的食物，你可以在我的照片中看到！），以及你的孩子收到许多“红包”， 享受在这里庆祝。
笑口常开！愿你新的一年充满笑容和欢笑！
Mary Elizabeth Maynard and Courtney Yarbrough