My Long Break

As much as I love and enjoy Christmas, I must admit, it is during Chinese New Year that I really get a chance to ENJOY the holiday!

Usually, during Christmas, Nic would be totally tied down with his JAMs drama rehearsals till the wee hours of the morning, and I’ll be busy planning and preparing CG stuff. And during Christmas, we’d be attending numerous services, and by the time Christmas is finally over, we’d have been bone-tired already!

But with Chinese New Year, it is a totally different, more relaxed feeling. Though it officially started on Monday, Jan 26, most of my colleagues and friends would be busy with the usual Reunion Dinners the weekend before (or even earlier)! So the “CNY mood” was already in the air, and coupled with the lanterns and other CNY decorations flooding the shopping centres and the usual “dong-dong-dong-qiang” music playing in most shops, it was easy to slip into my holiday mode!

CNY Eve (Sunday):
On CNY eve, we had our reunion lunch with Nic’s side of the family – and this year, departing from our usual steamboat setup (and also partly due to the fact his parents JUST shifted to the other side of the island), we decided to lunch at this Chinese restaurant at OCBC Building (Beng-something… Sorry Bryan, I am horrid at remembering such names! Haha!) It was simply lovely!

Barely giving time for our food to digest, we then went back to Marine Parade, and savoured my mother’s usual steamboat fare – but with a twist this time! My dad ordered a small “Peng Cai” for us to sample! This is a stew of different ingredients (such as mussels, crab, fish, meat etc. Even sharkfin!) Quite nice! But I guess I am not such a fan of such things… I prefer steamboat cause I love to drink soup!

[No photos for these meals… I was busy feeding Jayvon and making sure he didn’t run amok! Haha!]

CNY Day 1 & 2:
And there was more feasting… and MORE feasting! I think my MIL really missed the usual steamboat fare, so the next day for dinner, we had (you guessed it!) steamboat for dinner at her new place!

We went over to my grandmother’s place on Day 2 for a banquet lunch of my perennial favourite – Peranakan food! Glorious! Salted veg & duck soup, sambal prawns, mutton curry and more! Despite being in the same church and attending the SAME service every weekend, this was also the FIRST TIME Aunty Carol carried Jay! I guess this speaks volumes of our busy-ness! Haha! For her, Christmas is also a mad rush of overnight-ing and rehearsing for the church drama, so CNY is really a time to slack back and relax and rejuvenate!

*burp!*

Heh heh! But more than the food and the feasts and the family gatherings, I love the fact that the pace in busy Singapore literally slows down for these few days. Most shops would be closed. The shopping centres emptier. Even my BB sounds less often (Hurray!) and calls and SMSes are also slowing off. Even when a colleague calls, the first thing he or she says is to apologize for “disturbing”! Haha! Very relaxing…

But all good things must come to an end.

And usually for the office, AFTER the CNY comes to gear-shift back up! Lulling time’s about over.

Thank God for the GOOD break!

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