Jesse still celebrated Christmas even though he thinks he doesn't really bond with his family. They ate sweet potatoes and ham for dinner although they were poor, maybe because Christmas was a special occasion for them. Jesse received a racing-car set from his father. Brenda was angry because Ellie had a panty hose and she only had bobby socks. His mother wanted him to do chores even though it was Christmas.
How I celebrated Chinese New Year was different from how Jesse celebrated Christmas. Chores will be done before Chinese New Year because it is believed that cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes our homes ready for good luck. Instead of receiving presents, we received red packets with money in them. We were already happy upon receiving the red packets and the amount of money inside didn’t really matter to us. And same as Jesse, I spent time with my family.