CNY 2012

So the first day of Chinese New Year is officially over and I have to say... thank God!

It's sad.. as I find myself enjoying less and less of this festive season as I grow older. Dunno.. CNY was much more fun when we were younger it seemed. Everything back then was more exciting; new clothes, fireworks, staying up till late at night, glorious endless food, getting together with the cousins, yearning to gamble but not allowed to just because we were too young... and everything else.

Now, it's the complete opposite. I still look forward to the food but I no longer feel the excitement for everything else. Being financially independent is great; that means I can buy as many clothes as I want for CNY but somehow that doesn't seem like a big deal anymore. I shop the whole year round anyway. No anticipation or any excitement looking forward to wear the new clothes on the big day itself. If I happened to wear the new clothes before CNY, I can always buy a new one again.

And then the fireworks, well.. grew out of that too obviously... the kids still have a lot of fun and we sometimes go along with them just for the fun of it, but didn't really enjoy it. You know.. gotta be the 'cool', friendly big cousin and all...

Even the 'pop pop' we used to throw has evolved to this.

We attempted fireworks writing again but instead of 2012 my brother fast forwarded to 2018. Attempt failed.

Despite all the chaos in the house, Grandpa was looking lonely and he went about doing his own thing. This year however, he was in a better mood. And we managed to make him posed and really LOLed for the camera.

Nothing like a good laugh to brighten up the day :)

And ermm what was I saying.. yes.. staying up till late at night.. Now, I just want to hit the bed when the clock strikes 10 because the first day is always so exhausting and I'm not much of a gambler.

Still look forward to the glorious endless supply of food, I'll never get bored of our home cooked Nyonya dishes. Loh bak, curry chicken, pig belly soup, sour vege soup, jiu hu char with lettuce and sambal, fried mix vege, acar, tau eu bak, omg.. I can eat all those everyday if I never have to worry about getting fat.

Gambling... also the complete opposite now. Not really into it but my parents and my bro are definitely BIG into it -_- A good way to bond I'd say.

Now that we're all grown up (cousins whom we used to play together) the gap between us starts to get bigger. Each one of us leads different lives now and there isn't much in common for us to talk and bond. Gone were the days where we can click just like that and became bff for the entire day and teamed up against some other cousins. Gone were the days where we looked forward to eating or playing together. Poof* time changes everything.

So, what is Chinese New Year all about now that we are older? I guess it's a good opportunity to forgive and forget, renew family relationships and just be thankful that you have a 'home' to go to celebrate this special day. You start to like spending more time with the elders, talk about life as it is as well as getting some good old advice from them. And you start to realize that everyone is getting old :(


And of course, playing with babies :)