Reminiscing on Chinese New Year

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!! Hope you had a great weekend of celebrations and holiday trips for others.

Comparisons are inevitable during times like this...it's annoying but true.
Questions you get asked ARE a form of comparison.

Are you dating?
(All your cousins are, so you better be.)

When are you getting married?
(Your sister is already married leh, and she's younger than you.)

 What are you working as now?
(Ha? What kind of job is that???)

 Did you lose weight?
(Wah.... slimmer than last time. Slimmer than me too, cannot.)

 See???
Comparison. It's all up in the head... hahaha.
Reunions can lead to fights and arguments... seriously.
Then you get people who don't want to come back for reunions anymore... sad.
Jealousy? Envy? Anger?

Other simpler reasons could be...
"I don't want to socialize with them. I don't know them!"
"Man... staying in cramped quarters for two nights!"

I didn't like some of this too.... but as I grew up and I am still growing (sideways, unfortunately), I learnt to understand the importance of certain traditions. CNY is a tradition and a culture. My identity. Your identity. It may not be you exactly but it identifies who you are in a society. In a way. Like it or not.

I am not very 'Chines-y', often mistaken as a banana which is good to run away from pesky Chinese-speaking salesmen. I didn't identify with CNY for a while too. Lol!! I regarded myself as an uppity Westernized person. Oh the stupidity. I think it changed a few years back... Thankfully.

I am still very 'English', still a 'banana' in some ways... but I appreciate CNY more now. I long for the days when I could eat my grandma's steamed sticky cake. I long just to hear a silly rooster crow on New Year's Day (just one day is good enough, thank you). The fights for the bathrooms, the fireworks at the stroke of 12 midnight, the noise....!!! Not much of that now...

I see my CNY celebrations evolving as one generation passes on, the next generation takes over on the open houses, the younger generations get married and give birth to more and more kids. I am slowly becoming one of the older generations. Noooo!!!

Anyway, I have been reminiscing a lot.... Happens at the start of every new year. Reflect on the past and learn. Appreciate the now... Honestly.  Appreciate what you have now and what you don't.

Be back soon!
Gong hei fatt choy!

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