Lunar-cy

Chinese New Year is one week away, and I haven't done anything to prepare for it!!

No spring-cleaning, no crates of Mandarin oranges, no smell of freshly baked cookies, no spruced-up garden, no new notes, no plans of what to cook for reunion, the curtains and bed linen haven't been washed, yadda-yadda-yadda.

I hate it when CNY falls in January. There's no time to prepare, what with the kids going back to school and all that jazz. This year I'm totally not in the mood for CNY. Maybe it's because of my father's passing away last month. Mum and my brothers' families won't be celebrating because they're still in mourning. Daughters can celebrate because we're married out. Maybe it's because I'm getting old.

But then some people never get too old to celebrate CNY. Take my mum's neighbour. She's a 50+ grandmother and she still buys new clothes for herself every year including must-have brand new underwear. Everything must be spanking new.

We're all creatures of convention, aren't we. Bound by traditions. Once in a while, it's liberating to buck convention and do what one likes to do. Like my sis-in-law. She's going to Egypt next week with a friend. Though she's looking forward to it, she's beginning to feel jittery about what MIL would say when she finds out.

I tell her next time it's my turn to go gallivanting during CNY. It'll be good to get away from the Lunar-cy for once.