My friend at the airport told me I need 7 things: Mama Mary or Santo Nino, rice, salt, sugar, water, oil and live plant.
Another suggested that I threw coins on the floor too. Isn't this done on the house blessing?
Does the moon have anything to do with it? December 12 is the full moon, but we don't get the keys to the house until December 15 @ 2pm. This one is out of my hands.
What are your traditions? I guess it will not hurt me to follow some traditions, right? As long as I know the reason/logic behind it.
I also decided to do a little research --
"While there may be many customs worldwide associated with housewarming, the most familiar one is that of bringing three items: salt to ensure that life in the new home will always have flavor; bread, so that the homeowners will never go hungry; and wine, so that joy and prosperity will reign forever. The tradition of bringing these three items undoubtedly stems from pre-Christian lore and beliefs, but continues in many parts of the world today." SOURCE
Thai tradition: "You need to bring with you three items, rice, water, and knife. The rice and water, so that there will be plentiful and the owners will live in prosperity, and the knife is to protect the family from any evil spirits."
Chinese tradition: "... bring a flashlight and shine the light into the top and bottom corner of every closet and every room... What you're doing is transferring the spirits from the old place into the new place; you’re showing them where to go. It's a way of lighting their way. SOURCE
"We also had the usual custom of bringing in salt, rice, cotton, monggo seeds and water with us when we moved in." SOURCE
There's no way I will be doing the knife thing... it may cause me badluck. I'm Chinese but I have never heard of the flashlight thing either. Oh well... And what's the logic behind cotton and monggo seeds? Anyone? I can't wait to see the inside of our new home. Anyway, after I bring in these "traditional" starters, the first thing I want to move and set up is our Christmas tree! I can't feel the Christmas spirit without a Christmas tree.
We have 9 days to move our stuff slowly. I use smaller boxes so I can move some stuff alone while the kids are in school. Then we will set aside either Saturday or Sunday [depending on the weather] to move all the heavier stuff and rent a U-Haul truck. I plan to sleep in our new home by December 21. If not, we will definitely celebrate Christmas in our new home. Wish us luck.
BTW, here's an interesting historical link --
Contractors in Fuzhou City, southeast China, have moved a historic priest's house to preserve traditions.
Whenever hubby and I go to Future Shop or Best Buy, I am always tempted to walk out with a laptop. But the timing isn't always right. I don't know what feature to look for, and I guess I haven't found the one that I really, really like. That is until last week! 
Earlier this evening, we decided to try again. And it was in stock. So I brought home a 13.3" HP Intel Core 2 Duo with 320GB hard drive, 4GB Memory and a 5-1 digital media reader. It also got a mini remote control, light view keyboard and the new fingerprint reader!
