Chinese New Year Memory

Everyone seems to be fully prepare for CNY. In our house , it is still very normal :) .Being a Chinese -Indonesian , we do celebrate it. But my family always celebrate it in a quite modest way. I didn't have new clothing for CNY. My parents told me , we don't have to wear all new stuffs , since we also have many nice clothing even though it is not brand new. I also never did throw tantrum just because my other friends will put new attire except me. I think I just accepted it that is our family way. My sisters and brother also never seems to bother .

Both of my parents came from a very big family. When my late fraternal grandmother still lived with us, I remember it very clearly until now that I really became very excited to wait for the CNY dinner. My aunts came, my late uncle and his wife, my cousins. We then played fire crackers after dinner . My mom usually put the black and white embroidery table clothes, suddenly there were a lot of cookies, Gua zhi( melon seeds) , peanuts, drinks, every where in our house. Very festive!

Being the General Manager of one of the largest Supermarket chain in Indonesia at that time, my dad received a lot of hampers from the bussines associates, and clients. And we were the one that got most excited about all the hampers, I peek and tried too guess what it 's in inside. And we can't wait until we can open all of the hampers.

And of course the biggest memory for me as a kid is the HONG BAO collection part. I got a small bag in the shape of a cow that I use to put all my hong bao. The first thing in the morning we did is run down and greet our grandmother with the beaming face and full hope of the hong bao hahaha...

We also will go to neighbors' houses, and other uncles and aunties ( from my mom side) . I usually will have the hong bao collection competition my my brother, to see who will collect the most :D

I also remember the food! Sea cucumber, abalone is the must for CNY. I love to help my mom to cook in the kitchen ,specially during CNY, because I can cut the abalone and ate it in the same time. LOL until my mom found out and she kicked me out of the kitchen hahaha... But I keep trying every year to help her cut the abalone , even if I only can "took" a couple of pieces of it before she kicked me again, It was WORTH IT! I always love to eat, can't help it when I saw the nice and yummy abalone there. :P

We also had a ancestor praying ceremony in our house. My dad is a Buddhist as so were my late fraternal grandfather. So we did a Buddhist ceremony , with the red candles and all, and the offering were : chicken, fruits and cakes and my aunt also will burn the paper ( I don't know how to call it in English). I also help to fold the paper but I never like to stay near the fire as it really burn my eyes!

But when my grandma passed away in the 1991, the CNY celebration is getting quieter in our family. After that , my sis got married and moved out the country, me too. And it is hard to be home during CNY as the break is not long .

Then become even more when my uncle ( my father 's younger brother) left us in 2003 , he lost the battle to pancreatic cancer .

Last year , it was a great time for me here in KK as my dad, my aunt, sister and her children were here with us for the CNY , and my dad was even here with us until the Valentine day.

But living in the time of the great technology this time , I really can't live without internet and telephone. We can chat and being in touch every single day via email or chatting or even easier we can call each other.

So this year, same for me, I don't have new clothes for Indy and Maya. They got a very pretty silk cheong sam from my sister. And I think that will be more than enough.

And My husband, don't judge him by his skin. In a way he is more Chinese than me. He will wear a RED underwear hahaha ( Did I just reveal too much?) and He will be UPSET if I dont call the lion dance into our house. He will also give Angpao to every one in his working place. Yes everyone, from the dishwasher to the manager , to the parking staffs . He knows that CNY is the biggest celebration for most people in Asia. Oh and he will also play firecrackers :)

As for our experience, the biggest CNY is in Shanghai. That was a great experience we have ! And they have a different cultures for CNY compare to Guangzhou and even Singapore and Malaysia.
And we are lucky to be able to experience different kind of cultures and traditions to celebrate CNY.

For example, in Shanghai , they don't have the sweet Nian Gou like in Guang Zhou or in South East Asia, but they have this plain Nian Gou that will be stir fry. I can't find it in KK, I much prefer the stir fry Nian Gou compare to the sweet one. Yummylicious!
And then for Shanghainese they MUST eat dumplings at midnight on the CNY eve. Love the dumplings! I think I will try to cook some dumplings for our CNY very simple dinner.

I think the most important of all is to let our children know that they are Chinese and need to celebrate it in whatever way we could, either modest or very festive .
For us that will be a simple dinner and Hong Bao giving away and maybe lion dance and fire crackers.

To All of you who celebrate Chinese New Year or just enjoying the festivity and holiday , we want to wish you

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR ! MAY YOURS WILL BE PROSPEROUS ONE!

GONG XI FA CAI

恭喜发财

XIAN NIAN KUAI LE

新年快乐

WAN SHI RU YI,

万事如意

SHEN TI JIAN KANG

身体健康