It's the third day of the Lunar New Year! How has it been for you thus far?

This has got to be the most unprepared Lunar New Year for my family.

We ran out of time to give the house a fresh coat of paint nor visit Chinatown to shop for festive goodies and Lunar New Year decorations.

I began decorating the house just one day before New Year's eve and most of the decorations were recycled from previous years.

We were even too late to stock up on food ingredients for Reunion Dinner and the subsequent meals for the days after.

Perhaps due to the lack of preparations, the festive season seemed a little dull this year. I spent the first two days napping away and watching the same old cliché Stephen Chow movies which has been repeating on TV year after year. 

The Annual Interrogation

You know, the last thing I like about LNY has got to be the visiting part. Isn't it annoying to have your beloved aunts throwing the same questions to you year after year? So what if I earn less than 10K a month? So what if I'm still unmarried? Thanks but no thanks for the overwhelming concerns. Do not make small talks for the sake of talking at my expense please.

I would rather hibernate at home than to face the firing squad which is exactly what I did!

A Very Different LNY

LNY works very differently in my clan. We do not go visiting each other's house nor meet up for celebrations. Well, I remembered that we used to do that when I was really young but all that changed when some unhappiness broke out between the adults and we stopped doing that altogether.

However, as Grandma was living with Big Uncle's family, we would still visit his house (must give the old dame face mah). So, Big Uncle's house unofficially became the headquarters where everyone goes to visit Grandma during this period. But because not everyone would visit on the same day, the adults would deposit the Ang Pows for the children with Grandma.

Grandma would keep all the Ang Pows under her care and redistribute it among her grandchildren when they visits.

After Grandma's death, this role was taken over by my youngest aunt (and that's the time when I totally stopped visiting).

Food is running out so must ration abit but thank God for this fat guy and his franchise...