If you didn’t ring in the solar New Year on Jan. 1 right, there’s still hope as well as an excuse to delay your New Year’s resolutions. February 7, 2008, marks the first day of the three grand, celebratory days of T?t, the Lunar New Year, and this year we’ll be celebrating the ever-ambitious, hard-working and charming rat. Here’s your second and last chance at escorting in the New Year correctly and effectively, Vietnamese-style.  

First, start by wearing your newest clothes (shopping!), then pay off all your debts (now just cut up those credit cards), make amends with your enemies (say sorry with big hugs), visit and entertain friends (clean your bedroom), take a trio of days off of work (call in sick) and eat the most delicious foods (delay your diet). All these and further indulgences are crucial to ensuring that your 2008 is not jinxed with bad luck or misfortune, but chock full of health, happiness, prosperity and a plump savings account. 

T?t, in my earlier years, proved an accumulation of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. As a kid, my three egos (me, my big head and my hearty appetite) thought I knew T?t, bánh chung (irresistible, glutinous rice cakes) and the lovely lucky money tucked inside gleaming red envelopes, called lì xì, like no one else. My selfish, childish longings of hoarding as many red envelopes as possible and my wasteful habit of eating only the center part of the bánh chung (and throwing out the rest) had to come to a rapid end. Celebrating T?t as I knew it as a child then transitioning to an adult was a little difficult, not to mention expensive.  

It all starts with the tradition of gifting money, required in crisp bills. When you’re young, it’s all about the receiving. When you’re older, it’s about the giving. Back then, I was deliriously happy if I found a dollar or two in my red envelopes and five dollars sent me running to our neighborhood ice cream truck. Now that I’ve aged and am supposed to be the bearer of good tidings, I’m afraid of being called a ""scrooge"" if I stuff anything less than a five in those glittering envelopes. Boy, do times change.

My current strategy is giving two-dollar bills to the little ones because not only are they different, but two of those bills together seems to double the gift (not to mention that you save a dollar from the five-dollar note). Every bit counts.

For the tweens (teens and early twentysomethings) fives and tens should do nicely, but if they’re related to you, remember that the thicker the blood, the thicker your pocketbook should be. Gifting to anyone older is more about the luck that you will receive for your thoughtfulness and kindness, so gift for ""fun"" here. A new, crinkling ten or twenty will make your peers and elders swoon. 

T?t foods back in the very early 80’s were a laborious task because my mother made much of our own traditional treats — from the rice cakes to all sorts of m?t, candied dried fruit. After having to crack open fresh coconuts, slicing them into thin slivers, then coloring them to look like our interpretation of Easter eggs, these candied temptations were no longer temptations, tiring me out in the making-them-into-being process.

Fortunately, these are plentiful and easily found at the local Vietnamese grocer and better yet, the availability of traditional fruits (thank you farmers in Mexico and Thailand) are my new gift options. Huge pummelos, sweet mandarins and green, crunchy guavas are fantastic and refreshing offerings for Vietnamese families, friends, neighbors and co-workers who have had too many squares of bánh chung or New Year’s candies. Even the feasting of T?t foods have grown from traditional soups and stews to more contemporary choices of American-influenced dishes to satisfy everyone’s cravings for a hearty New Year.

It’s not only the sights, sounds and flavors of this holiday that make T?t special. Having loved ones around create the warmth and true spirit of the New Year. When I ask many Vietnamese adults who are either newly immigrated or long settled in America what they miss most about T?t in Vietnam, all unanimously agree: It’s the sense of the familiar, the making of memories with those they care for — and the blooms.

""It’s always different back at home,"" says Th?o Võ, a newcomer to the United States, a mother of three who moved here two years ago.  ""I miss the sights of all the beautiful colorful flowers and always having friends and family to share them with.""

For Hoa Tr?n, a successful businesswoman for more than 20 years, T?t is a time that is put aside to spend relaxing with the people so important in your life. ""I work so much now,"" she shares in a sad, shaky, nostalgic tone. ""It’s hard for me to close my businesses to take the first three days of T?t off to celebrate the way I would like. I miss the joy and camaraderie of seeing old friends. Now many of us have to work at American companies that don’t celebrate the Lunar New Year.""

Regardless of different family traditions within each household, one universal common T?t custom is offering ""Chúc M?ng Nam M?i,"" our best wishes to others for a happy new year; ""S?c Kh?e"" for utmost health, or ""Làm An Phát Tài"" for financial success the next 12 months.

Yet it’s not only those around us who are to be appreciated. Remembering our lost ones and ancestors brings to heart everything that the holiday highlights — respecting our past, honoring who we have in the present and celebrating the future of our Vietnamese heritage.