Happy Lunar New Year!

Hello all! Wishing you a very happy and prosperous year of the rabbit! May it be full of good cheer and good health.

Ah yes, it’s the evening of the first day of the year of the rabbit and already the year has begun on an energetic note. I don’t remember feeling this tired before although I don’t think I’ve done a lot. As usual, we had the family reunion dinner on Sunday and then again last night. The second time was a smaller dinner with my mother-in law rather than one in KL with my siblings because I won’t be seeing them till tomorrow morning. We had this year’s hot dish-the pen cai- a deep dish of thirteen types of meat and seafood. For me, it’s okay, and doesn’t deserve the accolades that it has been receiving. I didn’t have my usual white cut chicken because of it, and somehow a festive dinner without the chicken dish isn’t quite a festive dinner.

The first day of Chinese New Year is often spent visiting relatives and close friends and this year is no different. We began at 9.15 am and got home at 3 pm after visiting 5 families. After that, it was a quiet dinner of Indian food (mutton briyani, naan, dhall and butter chicken) before packing up for tomorrow’s trip to KL. CNY in KL is often more rowdy. Perhaps it’s my 7 siblings and the presence of little ones; my youngest nephews are 4 and 5 years old and can be a whole lot of fun. We will have lunch first of course, and a lot of photo taking, and this year we will all be posing with rabbit ears and rabbit figurines. Visiting relatives is also on the schedule, and I will be visiting some old aunties and some younger cousins.

Every CNY we will sit down and recall the festivities of our youth, and regale the young ones with stories of our activities. This year will not be any different. Thank goodness there are younger innocent kids to impress since the jaded older ones would have heard these tales ad nauseam. But it’s a sure sign of old age when we delight in recalling the old days, and truthfully, we do miss them. But with another year, the past gets left further and further behind, and often, the memories of the good old days are not enough to restore those ties and affections which have been strained through petty arguments and assorted misunderstandings. But such is life. I try to be positive and optimistic. I see each year as another opportunity to start anew and another chance for everyone to make an effort to work at restoring and renewing family ties.

So on this first day of the lunar New Year, I wish you all whatever your heart desires and most of all, I wish you all happy times with your family. If you are one of those who feel estranged from your family for various reasons, give yourself and your family members a chance to start anew. Elbert Hubbard ( I don’t know who he is) said it well:

No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?