“I want to go home to celebrate the Lunar New Year with my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren,” said my father. However, my father is 93 years old with dementia, and my mother is one year younger. They are unable travel the long trip to Vietnam.

I asked the Intercultural Daycare and Multicultural Health Brokers to create an opportunity for children to explore the Lunar New Year celebration (called Tet in the Vietnamese language). It also gave my parents the chance to carry out their wish of having a family meal on the first day of the New Year and giving red lucky money to younger generations.

Friday, January 31, 2014, was the first day of the year of the Wooden Horse. Workers from the daycare and my co-workers helped to decorate the space with yellow blossom flowers, tea, rice cakes, coconut cookies, and vegetarian noodles dishes. Our parents arrived at the McCauley Centre at 10:30 a.m. We and the daycare children greeted our parents with common salutations in the Vietnamese language:

• Long life of 100 years: Song Lau Tram Tuoi
• Plenty of health: Suc Khoẻ Doi Dao
• May myriad things go according to your will: Van Su Nhu Y

Each of us received a new loonie in a red envelope. This act of receiving and keeping the lucky money for a whole year means we always have money and we are happy with what we have.

Eating a vegetarian meal on the first day of the New Year means we are well disciplined. Then, we enjoyed the New Year treats.

• Be kind to others: no killing animals for any reason
• Be gentle to home environment: do not litter

The Second Day of Tet is reserved for Teachers and Elders in the community who command respect in Vietnam. Local temples are popular spots for people to donate and to get fortunes told during Tet. Prosperous families can pay for dragon dancers to perform at their house, and they are also free and fun to watch performing on the street.

My parents were happy and returned home. We call “Xong nha” which is the most important rituals during Tet, when someone is the first person to enter a house.

Then, my father touched the branches of yellow blossoms and green bamboo in the big vase and said: “This blossom blooms forever.”