So how was your Chinese New Year?
Our Chinese New Year was, as usual, low key. We did the usual reunion meal with Henson‘s parents. This year, however, was lunch and not dinner, as the restaurants were fully booked by the time we decided where we wanted to eat at. Then, on the first day of Chinese New Year (8th February 2016), we paid our usual visits to Henson’s parents’ home, my parents’ home and visited a few of Henson’s aunts.
And that was it. Seriously. Year after year, it is the same!
No Spring Cleaning and Nothing New
There was no spring cleaning (I declutter and deep clean every other month or so, all year round), no buying of new clothes and shoes (again, we buy clothes and shoes as and when needed all year round) and definitely no buying of new bed linen and towels (why does one need a new set of bed linen and/or towels every year when the current set isn’t worn out at all?!)
We almost never open our house up and we almost never do the endless rounds of visiting of friends’ and relatives’ homes that are common to most Chinese families.
I think we are absolutely the most boring and un-Chinese family around. 🙁
Boring
And you know what? We are the same for Christmas! The only partying we do is have a meal together on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, we attend the Christmas service and then I go for my yearly Christmas lunch with my ballet friends, while everyone else heads home.
You think it could be due to the fact that both Henson and I are introverts? 😛
So I told my children the other day that, God-willing, when they meet and marry their spouses, they are going to get the shock of their lives to see how Christmases and Chinese New Years (if they marry a Chinese) are done in other people’s homes! And then they will probably feel deprived or glad 😛
Hope your Chinese New Year was as quiet or as rowdy as you preferred it to be!
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