During the New Year, people give red envelopes to family members. A small (or large) amount of money is inside. This gift is intended to bring good luck for the coming year.

The red envelopes are also given when visiting a friend's or family's newborn. One is expected to include enough money for the parents to purchase two chickens.

Many months ago, I place a red envelope under the delicate bedclothes of a baby in Yiang Jiang. The sight of his beautiful round face pulled me back in time, twelve months prior, when I was staring into the smiling face of my little boy, tucked inside his swaddle blanket.

I hadn't slipped a red envelope under his head; instead, I'd placed a single, tiny sunflower in the middle of a dozen long-stem red roses. The roses enveloped the brighter flower, and seemingly protected it from the outside world. Still, the roses allowed admirers a glimpse of the baby sunflower.

"I don't understand," said my mother-in-law, a transplant from Egypt. "Why do you put the one flower in the the pretty roses? It doesn't look right."

"Because," I replied, "My little Adam is the bright, shining star, surrounded by the people who love him."

She frowned, and looked at my little boy, gingerly held to his mother's breast, and then to me. "Oh!" she yelped, and held her mouth, afraid to wake the child. "Oh-- the sunflower is Adam, and we are the roses."

I smiled and nodded. She hugged me and said it was the most beautiful bouquet she had ever seen.

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