Honestly, I didn't think of of the fact that it was going to be the year of the Ox. I see no difference and I think of no difference. Some people may do. We wanted to have a dinner to remember, just like previous years, we had Chinese Steamboat or Hot Pot for our New Year’s Eve dinner. People around here normally have this on their menu on the Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner, or reunion dinner. Me? Merely a follower, who also wanted to feed her family well...
We had a large selection of raw and marinated ingredients served on the table to dip into the stock that we put in the center of the table and continuously kept warm. Everyone could choose any of those items, we have maybe 15-20 different things to choose from that should satisfy everyone’s cravings. I find it mandatory to have sliced beef, but we also had chicken balls, fish balls, pork balls, stuffed fish balls, many different types of dumplings, fish ravioli, enoki, mushrooms, green vegetables, shrimp, sliced fish, bean curd, glass noodles and …………… a whole bunch of more stuff. Really, lots and lots of them.
A dipping sauce was provided too, it is a sweet chili sauce from the bottle that has been added with a little amount of water and mixed with chopped Chinese parsley.
We definitely stuffed ourselves so much, it was a great dinner, but more importantly it was a nice get-together time with family members. Next year, when No. 1 goes to college, we might need to live telecast it via Skype. 
