Chinese New Year has never been a big deal for me. When I was younger, I never appreciated the get-together opportunity this festival afforded, simply because I was too young to appreciate re-connecting with long-lost cousins and aunties and uncles that I actually cared about. Every year for 23 years, I joined the season exodus of KL for Penang, the hometown of my parents, which really contributed to my enthusiasm (not!).
The long car ride up north, the traffic jam back to KL, and the invariable squabbling and fighting – I don’t come from the most peaceful of households to begin with, and four feisty, irritated siblings who didn’t even want to be there in the first place was a recipe for chaos – unfortunately make up much (though not all) of my CNY impressions, along with other equally unfestive memories.
Then I got married, and I finally got to spend CNY in KL. I couldn’t wait for my first time. It was fantastic. My siblings got jealous almost a full year before they had to make their first trip without me, while I patted myself on the back for getting myself a cool husband and in-laws who stayed put for the festival. Their jealousy didn’t last too long. The following year marked their first CNY not celebrated in Penang, and this year appears to have cemented that end to those long journeys. Penang is fantastic, but CNY really isn’t the best time to visit. Plus, I do like to be in charge of my itinerary (read: go with friends instead of the parents).
Anyway, like I was saying, CNY has never been a big deal for me, so you’ll forgive me if I was more excited this year about my four-day weekend than about wearing red and hearing fireworks. I was very pleasantly surprised. In fact, I had such a good time I’m making a list of my top three CNY highlights this year, in no particular order.
1. Seeing long-lost aunties and uncles
This is definitely a sign of my advancing years. I was so thrilled to see cousins I hadn’t seen in like, three years, and others I hardly see even though they live here in KL, and aunties and uncles from afar and… Basically, it was just a lot of fun. The cousins even had our very first excursion – to watch The Eye at the cinema (we couldn’t get tickets for anything else). Y doesn’t really get it because he barely spends time with his cousins, but he came along for the movie and I am very pleased.
2. Singing karaoke with my siblings
Y’s mum recently bought a karaoke machine for the house and I’m determined to play my part in making sure it’s well-used. I admit to being rather surprised I managed to get all four of us to sing together, but we had a blast. My I’m-fifteen-this-year-and-oh-so-cool younger brother Josh sang too! And we have rather incriminating videos of Bec and Jess, which I will consider putting up if I can get them off Josh.
3. Non-existent traffic
This is a recurring highlight. I’m going to miss getting practically anywhere in ten minutes when the revelers return from their various kampungs.
Not-so-highlights:
1. Everyone seems to have taken the opportunity of CNY (don’t ask me how it’s connected) to put forward their requests/opinions that I reproduce. I have many thoughts on that subject, which I will expound on in a separate entry. Maybe tomorrow.
