Whenever Chinese New Year comes around, I always hear from my HSB bros the usual few comments – “Remember the good old days of celebrating Chinese New Year as a kid?”, “When the candies seemed endless and our dear Mothers are n̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶o̶w̶e̶d̶ refrained from scolding us? “
So what happened? Why do so many adults now don’t feel that way any more?
If you’re one of them, here’re six reasons that for me, still makes Chinese New Year a fun and memorable festivity!
1. Reunions and Gatherings – Whether we like it or not, Singaporeans are workaholics. Period. So Chinese New Year is usually the best time to spend quality time with your relatives and your friends and take some time (and your mind) off work! It’s the perfect occasion to reunite the family, no matter how far we are, and reflect back on the years passed.
2. Endless amount of Chinese New Year goodies – where else can you find such a huge array of snacks that our creative Singaporean shop owners come up with? From the usual kachangs and kueh lapis to the Ba Kwas with pineapples and cheese flake pistachios. Shiok!
3. Watching the Stephen Chow / Jack Neo movie rerun for the 9876543th time – Sure, you might have memorised (willingly or not) the scripts by now and feel that it’s nothing new. But times like this always good to reminisce the growing up years as the whole family gathers together to watch them, because, some things never change do they? smile emoticon
4. Annoying (?) relatives – While they may seem annoying with their endless concerns about your well-being/ if you’re married / got children / why only one not two not three not four, but I like to think that’s because we all share bits of DNA with one another anyway, so it’s natural to care for one another. Plus, you never know if that Grand Uncle happens to know of a potential h̶o̶t̶ ̶d̶a̶t̶e̶ work opportunity? True story.
5. Kitchen never stops churning out food. NEVER. – Almost all households island wide will see our dear grandparents/parents prepare TONS of awesome food for the whole family. As someone who settles the three meals outside daily, nothing beats having home cooked comfort food together with your loved ones. It’s tough work, so I’m always appreciative of my aunts who put the family’s well-being before their own comforts.
6. Time, quality and genuine time, with our families – For most of us, I think we should count our blessings to be able to spend CNY with our families. Not everyone is as fortune to be able to spend it this way, perhaps due to work that never ceases (police, paramedics etc) or do not have anyone else to spend it with. I treasure every moment spent with the older generations, distant and otherwise, because you never know when you might not have the chance any more.
