The clouds are cold and do not move, and the old age turns to depression. The weather is getting colder and colder, the New Year is approaching, and the eighth day of the lunar month is coming as scheduled.

For the Bai family, Laba Festival is a festival that should be taken seriously, and the Bai family prepared for it early, bought the miscellaneous grains needed to boil Laba porridge, and waited for this day to boil Laba porridge.

Laba Festival is a northern festival, the Bai family came from the north to settle in Taohua Village, although the township should follow the customs, but did not completely forget the ancestral customs, every day of the eighth day of the lunar month, will boil a pot of Laba porridge, and share it with the whole family to eat.

But the customs of Laba Festival are also much simplified, and now it is just Laba porridge, and sacrifices and other things are skipped. Therefore, in the eyes of the children of the Bai family, Laba Festival is to drink a bowl of hot and fragrant Laba porridge, so everyone is full of expectations for Laba Festival.

In the cold weather, there is no farm work in the field, and the most important thing for everyone is to prepare for the New Year.

Early in the morning, everyone in the Bai family got up.

"It's so cold." As soon as Bai Mingxuan left the room, she felt the chill of the winter morning, rubbed her hands with a sigh, and shivered.

"It's getting colder and colder, and I'm afraid it's going to snow this year." The white lady looked at the sky and pushed her, "Go to the kitchen, the kitchen is warm." ”

In the kitchen, Wang and Tao are cleaning the stove and preparing for porridge. The Bai family's kitchen is not big, just a fire pit and a stove, which is enough for the family to eat. In winter, everyone sits around to keep warm, crowded next to each other, and it is lively.

Bai Mingxuan walked into the kitchen, and when Wang saw his daughter coming in, he hurriedly moved a stool, put it in front of the fire, and pulled her over, "Come, sit here, it's warm here." ”

"Uh-huh." Bai Mingxuan hurriedly sat down, stretched out her cold hands, and opened them close to the fire, letting the orange flames warm her hands.

After a while, Bai Mingwei and the others couldn't stand the cold and came in to roast the fire. A few people sat around the fire, soaking up warmth. A pot of hot water was boiling on the shelf of the fire, and the steaming heat added a touch of warmth to the kitchen.

Outside, the white lady brought a big wooden basin, untied the cloth bag, poured all the grains for boiling porridge into it, carefully picked out some rotten and bad ones, and then scooped half a basin of well water, and cleaned it while the warmth of the well water just came.

There are not many ingredients used in Bai Laoniang's porridge, and most of the common grains such as rice, glutinous rice, millet, red beans, and peanuts are grown by herself. Although the ingredients are simple, they are delicious for the Bai family.

The ingredients were washed, the water was poured, and the white lady took the basin and entered the kitchen. There was a fire burning on the stove in the kitchen, and she poured most of the ingredients into the pot, and she took out the rest of the pot with her hands, then added half a pot of water, and told the two to watch the heat.

The firewood burns to its heart's content, and after processing with time and temperature, the hot air slowly rises from the pot.

Half an hour later, Bai Lao Niang opened the lid of the pot, added a piece of brown sugar, covered the lid, continued to cook for a quarter of an hour, opened it again, stirred it a few times with a big spoon, and a pot of laba porridge was cooked.

Everyone in the Bai family had already prepared the dishes and chopsticks, and they were waiting to eat.

One bowl per person, the fragrant laba porridge is scooped into the bowl, the ingredients are colorful, and the porridge water faintly reveals the golden sugar color, and the viscosity is just right. The rich aroma of grain and the sweet aroma of brown sugar are fused together to form an irresistible smell of food.

Scoop a mouthful of porridge and blow it, put it in your mouth, and your mouth is wrapped in a soft and sweet fragrance. After a few mouthfuls of porridge, it seems that the whole person is warm.

No one spoke, and everyone ate one bite after the other.

As the saying goes, after Laba is the New Year.

After the Laba Festival, the New Year is approaching, and everyone is preparing for the New Year.

Sprinkle and dust, worship the god of the stove, change clothes, and prepare ingredients.

Soon it was Chinese New Year's Eve.

Bai Mingcheng has also returned from vacation, and the whole family is preparing for the New Year. No matter how difficult life is, the Chinese New Year is still worth looking forward to.

Although the Bai family is not rich, they still take out the ingredients for the New Year. A few vegetarian dishes, all home-grown, and a few meat dishes, didn't cost anything. Sweet old pumpkin, fresh loofah, crisp and tender cabbage, radish on a sunny day, and bacon smoked at home a year ago, grass carp exchanged cabbage for fellow villagers, and a chicken at home also killed one.

After the skillful cooking of the three women of the Bai family, a sumptuous Chinese New Year's Eve dinner was set on the table.

The days are short in winter, and it is already evening when a table of meals is set, waiting for everyone to serve it.

But before that, there's one more thing to do – set off firecrackers.

Nowadays, there are many firecrackers made of saltpeter, but the Bai family, who are not wealthy, still use a more traditional method: clay pots to burn fire, and put bamboo in them to burn.

"Crackling—" The bamboo suddenly sounded.

"Ahh Bai Mingwei and Bai Mingxin were startled and hurriedly hid behind the adults.

"Hahahahahaha-" Everyone couldn't help but laugh when they saw it.

At this time, the sound of firecrackers in Taohua Village came and went, adding a bit of liveliness to the relatively quiet village on weekdays.

Then a simple ancestor worship ceremony was held, and everyone took their seats one after another.

The dishes are very rich, the rice is not bad, it is no longer multigrain porridge and sweet potatoes, but multigrain rice, which is not as good as rice, but it is also very rich.

Bai Mingxuan held the bowl, looked around, and saw that everyone's faces were beaming, happy for this Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.

"It's the New Year, eat more." Daddy Bai's wrinkled face smiled like a chrysanthemum, looking at the full house of children and grandchildren with a satisfied smile, "The Bai family wants to get better and better every year!" ”

"What Dad said is that the good days of our Bai family are still ahead, and when Mingcheng wins the top prize in the future, the Bai family will be the champion family. Sesame seeds are blooming high! Bai Er raised his wine glass with a smile, "Dad, my son toasts you." ”

"Hehe, my son will also toast you." Bai Da took a step behind and said as well.

"Good, good!" Hearing this, Daddy Bai turned his head to look at Bai Mingcheng, smiled even more happily, raised his wine glass, and drank it in one go.

"Okay, okay, drink less, eat!" The white lady was afraid that they would just drink, so she hurriedly persuaded them.

The Bai family came back from the town for the New Year, although this wine is not easy to get drunk, and it is not good to drink too much.

"Here, eat a piece of meat." Tao first sandwiched a piece of chicken for Bai Mingxin, "Eat more meat to grow faster." ”

"Minglan, Mingcheng, you also eat more," Wang, who was sitting on the side, showed concern in his eyes, "If you want to eat something, you can't call A-Niang." ”

"Don't patronize them, you eat more." Bai Da quietly took a piece of bacon and put it into Wang's bowl and whispered.

Wang Shi blushed instantly, and hurriedly looked up at everyone, and saw that no one was paying attention, so he glared at him and lowered his head to eat.

The farm-smoked bacon is served with garlic leaves, dogwood and ginger, and it is so fragrant that it makes people swallow when they smell it. Dow couldn't help but eat several pieces in a row, and even put some into his bowl.

Seeing this, a trace of dissatisfaction flashed in the eyes of the white lady, and she just wanted to talk about her, but she was worried that this was the New Year, and she couldn't say anything not very good. After thinking about it, he said with a smile: "This year, the weather is good, and the cabbage and radishes grown in the field are fragrant and sweet, so eat more." ”

As he spoke, he put a pair of chopsticks into the bowl.

Tao Shi reacted at this time, his face was a little sneering, but he pretended not to know, and then took a pair of chopsticks and radishes.

The meal took longer than usual, and it was almost time to go to bed when it was over, and the Bai family couldn't afford candles, so like the rest of the villagers, they canceled the habit of keeping the New Year.

Everyone went to sleep, and the children of the Bai family were not disappointed, because the next day, there was something more joyful waiting for them.