First day of Chinese New Year

T'was the first day of the Chinese New Year (CNY). I think I woke up earliest this year in the whole of my CNY history. In the past, we used to drag till about ten plus eleven o'clock before we could trot out of the house. This time though, we were on the roads by nine plus. That was quite a feat!

First stop was maternal grandparents' place. Found out that they were watching tv with yellow screen, which means it is going to go kapoot soon. Made a mental note to buy them one as soon as the shops open after CNY.

Then we were off to my first aunt's place. We thought we were early but third aunt and family were even earlier. No matter though for some of cousins were either chatting or napping. They had a very busy night before, with the kids and all. I suspect they went last minute shopping where all the new year goodies go cheap.

As much as I used to find it such a chore to sit around and wait for the adults to finish their conversations, I now welcome the chit-chatting and munching very much. It is a sort of bonding that only close family and relatives can have.

However, the number of places have been decreasing a little every year as relations die of old age or some ailment or other. This makes me treasure this time of the year even more. I just wonder, what will happen when it comes to our generation? Which cousin's place do we go to? Will we have enough younger generations to pass these traditions to (given that only 2 out of my 4 married cousins have children)?

Chinese New Year Eve

Today is day 2 of room packing and it is also the last day. That is, if I am really superstitious and want to follow tradition. We are not to clean or sweep our homes come midnight. Really though, who would want to be packing their rooms and homes when they can sit comfortably at about 12 midnight to countdown to the Chinese New Year (CNY)?

Bought a shredder for Dad (and myself, actually) and got it fixed up today. Helped him to install the printer too. Printer seems noisier than the previous one but still, I think the results of colour printing for this printer are fantastic!

This year, I feel that all around me, people are quietly festive. I can feel this sense of prudence all around, which, to me, is pretty good. It brings us back to the true meaning of the festival, to be with the family (sounds like Christmas, but aren't all festivals like that?). Some families may have less money to spend but there will (hopefully be) unspoken warmth.

As with previous years, my maternal grandparents, my parents and I went to have our reunion dinner at Ling Zhi Vegetarian Restaurant. This is the one time in the year when my mum gets a big treat of expensive but deliciously good vegetarian dishes.

Previous years too, we used to go to my eldest aunt's place to have our reunion dinner (after both my paternal grandparents passed away). This year though, she has some leg problems and decided to go out with her own children to eat.

No matter though coz we arranged with my aunts and we will be going to Crystal Jade tonight and this reunion business is not a laughing matter. We were already very late in booking our table (about one week before CNY eve). I had originally wanted to go to Lao Beijing which had yummy, yum, yum food but all their outlets were all booked out. Plus, they only have two sittings.

Crystal Jade had three sittings: 6.45pm, 7.30pm and 8.45pm. We took the latest as this means we do not need to rush through our meal and can really take our time. Can you imagine eating and having the wait staff clear your plates quickly and telling you your time would be up soon if you could not finish on time? Not very nice.

I didn't manage to take any pics last night as we went out of the house in a rush. Will try to take some tonight to post.

Till then, enjoy your reunion dinner if you haven't already had yours and wherever you are you can still have a reunion dinners with your own family and extended family and friends!

Four boxes and much muscle ache later...

(The red box is less visible due to poor camera phone, poor lighting and the red being very...red!)


Went to Ikea on Thursday (22nd Jan) and went crazy, shopping. I was so stressed out for most parts of the week and was driving homeward when I thought, "What about going to Ikea today? It's not a weekend and there definitely would not be a big crowd!"

So I drove myself there. So much space, so many things and so little people. OK, maybe not so good for the business but I guess it's the weekday crowd anyway. I saw the LEKMAN boxes that I have soooo wanted to buy before and grabbed five all at once. Kind of regretted it immediately as I did not have a trolley and had to separate them into two yellow carrier bags instead.

Also went insane at the children's department. There were these plastic bowls for kids but I grabbed them for my own purposes instead. Was going to put my costume jewellery and watches and since there were six of them bowls, I would think of what other else I can use it for if I really cannot use them all at once.

Then I spotted puppets. Took the pig, the lion, the funny-looking rooster and the lamb. I did not care if I could not claim for such things but they would definitely come in useful in my work. Just GRAB!!!

Last items grabbed were the CD boxes, and that was after much deliberation as to which type to take. There were just so many different materials and choices to choose from!

When I reached home, I could not wait to assemble the boxes. After all, it's plastic and it should be easy to fix, right? Wrong!! I almost cried and my muscles ached like hell trying to fix up one box. I was so afraid that the plastic would break and so had to use extra, extra care.

I was determined though. I fixed three boxes at one go, but I was still really bad. I was still playing the guessing game and girlie me was just so bad at looking at the instruction manual. It was only the next night while I fixed up the fourth box that I got it quite right.

Still need practice though but too bad I am down to the last box. Meanwhile though, I am having fun arranging the red and transparent boxes around on my EXPEDIT shelf.

Well, this year, it is really spring cleaning for me before the Chinese New Year. Never really believed in any spring cleaning but it felt good re-organising and making things...'disappear'.