An Elegant Twist of Choice

新年快乐！

It is interesting to see the revolution of Lunar New Year over a couple of decades that i'd been involving in. I've never miss a year of the celebration, never! Somehow i always feel that i want to be with my family during this festival. No matter how much i enjoy traveling about, i'll schedule my presence for this spring time!

When i was  child, the candies and goodies were the focus. Red packets, not so much... when you don't have control over the financial part, money wasn't that important. $4, $6 $8, $10 or more.... they were the same to me. But the candies made a difference! Jellies, chocolate, gummies, cookies, fizzy drinks... party time!

When we grew older, we handle cash, we knew how to walk to the shop and make purchases; the the red packets was the big thing among us. We compared our collections with our school friends, we used the extra pocket money to fulfill our wish list.

As we grow older, maybe when I grow older, like now, i start to appreciate more of the relationships between relatives and families. Surprisingly, the food doesn't excite me as much ( except the lo hei ), the red packets doesn't lure me to peek how much they contain, i was excited to meet some of the relatives; having a big family dinner together, taking turns to be the hosting family. A little chatting up, playing games like how we used to be as little kids, how my grandmas's house was packed with relatives, noise and laughters. 

My personal favorite is the Lo Hei ( in cantonese) or commonly as Yu Sheng a symbol of abundance, vigor, prosperity. I've yet been to a Lo Hei as 'violent' as my family does. " Ready? 1, 2, 3.... Huat Ah!" And the crazy twirl of prosperity wishes bellowing from our mouths, as our hands are busy with tossing the Yu Sheng upwards! Chopsticks flying around, veggies raining down my arms. Who cares? We just keep going..! Whether the wishes is for others or for ourselves, the positive energy was all hype up. 

Its my favorite dish among all others! Its like Chinese Salad, love the crunchiness and juiciness of the mixture. For the 3 days, i'd done 5 times of Lo hei... more to come..;)!

At different stages of our growing up, we starts to appreciate things we used to grumble about. We learn to let go stuff that used to matter to us so much. Like many families, competitions happens among ourselves ( education & job level between cousins, house decoration & baking skills between the older generation...). Somehow every lunar new year gathering seems like a time we layout our report cards for the year, and starts pass judgement towards others. Who is doing better, who is not....

It is still happening, but i choose to turn that volume low on my side. Coming to understand that, no matter how related we are, each of us are still individual, fighting our own battle plan, sailing our own sail... Nothing much to compare, just enjoy the relationship together and appreciate one another' company:)!

Hereby, wishing you...

恭喜发财, 心想事成, 万事如意！
Prosperity and wealth, may all wishes comes true & smooth sailing in what you do for the whole year round!