A Different Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year since my marriage has always been the busiest festival in the year for me. We usually head up to KL on the eve of Chinese New Year, complete festivities there, and return in time for another round of visitations in Singapore the following weekend. It is good for us that traditionally, the Spring Festival lasts for 15 days!

This year, for the first time since Roboman and I got married, we decided to do a switch and stay in Singapore for the beginning of the holidays, and head to KL the following weekend instead. I was excited about this because I have not had the chance to see many of my distant relatives for a long while, and my children have never experienced CNY in my parents' place on the first two days where most of the festivities take place.

In addition, my mother was granted a couple of hours of home leave (from the hospital) on CNY Day 1! It was a time of rejoicing indeed. After visiting my grandmother in the morning, we spent the rest of the day at my parents' place, where troops of relsatives came to visit. I enjoyed the endless chatter, tiring as it was to host so many people throughout the day. It was also very heartening to see my mother, although sitting on a wheelchair, immersed in the interactions with those who love her most. I was on my feet most of the day, and cooked dinner for the family that evening. I was physically tired but in my heart, I truly rejoiced.

My two girls received a lot of attention, being the youngest, and busied themselves either banging on the piano, playing with rubber ducks in a basin of water, or doing (a lot) of drawing. We let all diet restrictions go for Bubbles go that day, and believe me, she had a grand time snacking!

We spent the rest of the next two days visiting relatives and two other households. We did 8 homes in all, and it was wonderful because we bumped into other people visiting the same homes as we did. In previous years, we will usually be the only visitors as most people would have made their rounds the week before!

Roboman lamented about the quietness of the celebrations here, being used to the endless bangs of fireworks being shot from gardens of neighbours in KL. I had to agree, that some festive cheer seems missing when one is used to that noise. Still, the cheer for this year's CNY came very much from within, fired by the warmth of family and familiarity.

Do you celebrate Chinese New Year too? How was yours?