Xuan receiving Medusave award : Feb-13

I was not sure when Ministry of Education had started this Edusave award programme in rewarding students who had performed well in their studies, since we have yet to have anyone receiving it.  However, Xuan had the honor to receive this award this year for her performance in 2012, bringing the family proud.  Xuan received the Edusave Scholarship with a reward of a $350 cheque under her name.  Excitedly, she planned to use this to open a POSB personal saving account.

Lion Dance Experience during CNY : Feb-13

Lion Dancing has always been a passion in me since young, but passion sometimes is difficult to sustain, particularly when various other priorities in life start to come into play.  Fortunately with Adrian and the team running the Xin-Yang troupe well, I have the luck to at least able to experience my 'passion' yearly.

During Hong and Dor's house warming in CNY, they have invited Xin-Yang to pluck green.  This year, the troupe brought a cute Fortune God which out-shine the lion dance performance.  Everyone is queuing up to take photo with this Big Headed cartoon-liked Fortune God, definitely something very refreshing and fun.

Family with Cartoon Fortune God

At Daniel's place, the gals also put up a good captivating LED lights lion dance performance. They are really skillful, with much hard-work incurred of course.  Then come the moment when the 'old uncles' itchy hands cannot resist anymore and want to be a part of the performance also... so there you go, a bunch of old mates, playing the instruments like they use to many years ago.

Uncles playing the instruments

LED Lion Dance Performance

Chinese New Year Visiting, Part 2 : Feb-13

En was cranky upon reachin Alfred's pl but was soon cheered up by Alfred's 'chicken eggs' which En was holding in the picture..

Extremely sweet in her new CNY qipao!

Cousins together @Alan's kitchen..

Cousins together.. who's the odd one out??

the youngest generation in the Ho family.. @Alan's place

Chinese New Year Visiting : Feb-13

entertaining ourselves with camera phones @Di-gu's house

collage made for victor for first day CNY

Victor had not seen Aunt Grace for quite a while! (^_-)

Every Chinese New Year for the past 15 years, almost, is the same --visiting only begins after Victor's god-sister and her family visit us.  This year however, they did not visit us as Melina had fallen quite ill and was bedridden at home.  Hence we were out of the house earlier than usual, and managed to visit a few relatives we normally would not have made it.

Coincidence gathering @Gim-po's home

Qi with tigeress cousins Victoria & Magdalene, & younger siss @Kai-ma's

Dadajie & young tigeress' mummys

We finally made it to Kai-ma's house!  Even though Jiun, Pa, Hong and Dor have left, we also missed Ellis' family, but we did catch Dadajie, Jennifer and YinMei's family! (:

Hmm.. usually Ah Jia's house would be the 'fuel top-up' station.  Then Ah  Jia shifted in with Mummy..  Mummy's house became the stop where the girls would have proper food like porridge, rice or soup with braised CNY goodies like sea cucumber or pig's stomach soup or sweet soup.  After Ah Jia passed away, Mummy would still ask QQ and the maid to cook some food for the guests, but after Mummy passed on, I guess all of us, including Pa, went to Kai-ma's place for proper food!

As obviously, to be able and willing to cook is certainly a crowd-drawer!  As long as our parents are around, they are responsible for proper F&B.. however as we undeniably walked into our 40s, our parents are also getting old.  Mama is a wonderful cook and takes great care of our stomachs, but no doubt she cannot do that forever.  No doubt there is this need, someone has to take over.. but who? --i pondered deeply..  Cooking is so stressful, so tiring.. what does it take to do cooking effortlessly and amply? --i wondered, and I sure don't have it!

The gals couldn't get enough of Kai-ma's gui-ling-gao!

Kai-ma is so capable to whip out so much food alone for everyone!

We visited Di-gu, Gim-po, Kai-ma, Pa and Ah Neo in all for Day 1..

Victor in his come-let's-take-a-pic mood!

Even Bauble isn't spared.. cooperative Bauble!!

Yea.. it's contagious but fun!

We really should be doing this every year with everyone!!

Chinese New Year - 拜年 At Home : Feb-13

Family picture -- seven in all !!

The first day of Chinese New Year always begins with Mama's traditional Hokkien food - pig's offal mee suah with hard boiled eggs for everyone.  I remembered Mama used to give us two eggs each with a big bowl of mee suah. 

Victor & I 拜年 to Pa & Ma kneeling down - his family tradition!

Over the years with our feedback and also as the members of our family increased, the portion of mee suah became smaller and we now take one egg each.  This is welcomed actually as we would have more tummy space to fill in all the CNY goodies as we go visiting throughout the day!

Or could it be that inflation is the cause of our smaller portions?  Ma mentioned that for the same price, that box of mee suah used to have 10 servings.  This recent box juz bought, only has 6 servings!  Luckily Ma had a leftover serving from a previous box, otherwise one box cannot even feed the family!  Remarkable inflation isn't it?  And it did not stop at mee suah.. Nevertheless, we still have to celebrate CNY.. trying to spend on only absolutely necessary stuff.

Qi's turn to 拜年 to her grandparents..

Hopefully situation improves next year, but that seems hardly possible with the government's recent population increase announcement from the current 5.3m to 6.9m by 2030.. ):

To me, the equation is really simple..
demand increase (with more people),
supply change < demand change
=> price increase.  Signs of overcrowding and runaway inflation greet me daily especially as I go about my more-intensive CNY purchases.

En & Xuan's turn too ..

In a bid to divert attention from the super gloomy outlook, I find myself cleaning and clearing more nooks and corners of the house so as to make this CNY a good and meaningful one 'irregardless'.

Our lovely girls !!

Since don't-know-when, I think Victor and I have begun to cherish these traditional moments even more, and to better preserve memory this, we took pictures as we more diligently visited more relatives and friends this CNY!

We make our girls kneel to 拜年 to us too ..

A family silly moment ..

Chinese New Year Eve : Feb-2013

To compare Chinese New Year with the western Christmas celebration is very appropriate, at least very similar during the final preparation phase.  During this festive season, everyone will spend their money like crazy, buying gifts, goodies, new clothes and food just like there is no tomorrow.  And everyone will also be very busy when the day draws nearer; shopping, spring cleaning, change curtains, polish car and many more.. Sometimes it is quite difficult to comprehend this mentality, especially when shops are opened almost everyday even throughout the holidays and chores never seem to end anyway.  I think it could be due to the fact that we would like to reward ourselves for a good year spent and prepare to start a better year. 

Although we managed to adjust things by spreading some tasks throughout the year and adjust our expectations, there are still quite a bit to prepare for this CNY.  But I must admit we are coping and enjoying the season better every year.  I am also particularly impressed and grateful on how well Shin Yang has managed the house nowadays, she is really our sunshine.

One key event I enjoyed most every CNY is the reunion dinner on CNY eve, 'coz Mama will prepare all her best dishes we loved... Starting last year, we have also help to ease Mama's load by preparing a dish or two too.  This year, we prepare a Korean-like meat/veg wrap, prawn salad and fruits "捞起".  The open space between our houses serve us well for this feast... Yummy!!

Reunion dinner 2013

Reunion Feast 2013

Sisterly pose