A child no more and is now a married woman with a child of my own, Chinese New Year is always intimidating to me. It is no longer fun where you get to eat a lot of tidbits and collect angpow from the elders. Socially speaking, Chinese New Year is a horror story where you have to practically endure your nosy relatives who talks too much and judge too much for their own good. You see, I never like those stupid small talks that asks me questions like why I only have one child, why my son’s progress is so slow in comparison to other children etc. Such things makes me feel uneasy and makes me feel like my privacy have been breached.

Yes. Honestly speaking, that is how I feel every Chinese New Year. Unpleasant, really…as the Chinese are extremely competitive and naturally Chinese New Year becomes the time where everyone show off their achievements. Everyone have something to show off about. How well their kids are doing in school, how awesome they are at work…it is all about who is better than the others.
Not exactly my thing. I don’t like showing off…nor do I like to get involved in meaningless small talks.

But then again, I have changed a lot these days. I am much a successful person today in comparison to last year and the year before. I’m prettier and lovelier now. I no longer feel inferior and I strut with my head held high. I am influential too and my son have progressed so much in his own ways too and despite not really expelling academically, my son is pretty street smart and have loads of hands on experience in comparison to children his age. Unlike a lot of children his age, he wasn’t raised to be babysit by iPad or smartphones, so he have better table manners too, where he would actually sit and eat the food instead of fiddling with the gadgets. Frankly speaking, if I were to boast, there is definitely a lot for me to boast about.

So yea…Chinese New Year might be socially unpleasant. But looking on the bright side, at least I have a home to go back to. My mother in law is still around and she usually make a lot of effort to bring the family together for Chinese New Year. She will cook loads of delicious stuff for us to eat and there are jars of tidbits for all of us to munch on. I guess when I am older, I’ll be doing the same thing to keep my family together, and despite the unpleasant social environment, I still could enjoy homecook food and enjoy doing nothing and unwind during Chinese New Year. My husband will be by my side 24/7 too, which is great as we are all busy during normal days. Who says you can’t make the most of everything? Festive season can be pretty overrated and commercialized, but it provides the opportunity to actually bond with your family, so make the most of it. Consider yourselves lucky to still have family and home to go back to this festive season. Some are not lucky enough to have one. 🙂

Happy Chinese New Year. Here’s sharing with you a video. Inspired by true events, this Chinese New Year short film by Alan Thoo, brings together 4 good friends chit chatting over tea time. Another Lions Club of Sunway Damansara Metro message to everyone, proudly produced by Virtigo Studio and Adini Productions.

Starring Joseph Germani, Dennis Yin, Shawn Lee, Simon Leong and cameos by many local celebs and Lions members.