HAPPY 牛 YEAR!

As it's 3+ months after Mama's death, the parents decided they would not be celebrating CNY this year. Darren and I felt that we can still go ahead and visit our uncles and aunts, since we do not follow this tradition. So Day 1 of CNY was spent with just us visiting.

Had a rather fun time visiting without the parents. Went to Ah Q's house 1st. What started out as a "formal" catching-up session suddenly livened up when we saw their new XBox 360 Guitar Hero edition, and Xanne said she wanted to try that. We spent one good hour on that game. And boy! It's sure tough! Especially the drums! But it got me hooked on the game... Now need to see who I can con to get the game so that I can go and play! :D

Mak Ko's house was next. We used to visit her every year when we were younger, but somehow that didn't work out as we grew older. So when we went, Darren and I had a good time reminiscing the old days when we would have our CNY lunches in Mak Ko's huge kitchen (you hardly see kitchens that size today), and tasting traditional Peranakan food (Mak Ko's family is one of the very rare pure Peranakan families left). And also how, after Mak Ko's place, we would drive down the same street to visit Teo Teo's aunty. Sadly, those days were over...

Went to Xanne's grandma's place after. This family, to me, showed how a reunion is supposed to be like. The (almost) whole extended family gathering together, having fast and furious (and loud!) conversations, and basically catching up with one another. Of cos I felt out of place, but it kind of showed me something which I have hardly seen during all my years of CNY visitations...

Ang pao collection today was quite fruitful. :) But that'll be all for this year...

And the thought of work coming in full swing after this CNY break is... well... depressing. :(