Ray's grandmother's funeral was today. I got off work at 12 noon and was lucky that a co-worker goes home that way and was able to drop me off in time. Got there just as the 2 limos were pulling in from Ray's parents' house.

There were traditions that I wasn't familiar with. The grandaughters and grandaughter-inlaws each wore a royal blue yarn flower in our hair held in with a bobby pin. These were put into the grave on top of the coffin after the service. We also had to burn fake lucky money in a barrel right beside the gravesite after the dirt and grass were put back. Kinda reminded me of when people are on strike and need to keep warm. The beautiful assortment of cascading flowers on stands were brought from the funeral hall and surrounded the gravesite in a U-shape. At the open end where there weren't any flowers we had to burn incense and put the stick into the ground. It was pouring rain. Was surprised the incense sticks were still glowing.

We went to a Chinese restaurant for the reception. At the end we got a flashlight, nice umbrella, 2 rice bowls and 2 sets of chopsticks. We turned on the flashlight as we went inside our place. Not sure why we had to do that but that's what we were told. Also got a red envelope with candy and money in it.

We go to the buddhist temple at 9am on Christmas Day for a ceremony. I'd better get lots of sleep tonight.