I’m never a fan of the festive season: crowded buses with sweaty people, children running around everywhere like animal on the loose, ugly people everywhere out to shock the world, taxi drivers hiking up their rates to earn a quick buck, underage girls dressed like underage hookers, all the aunties and uncles catch up on the latest family gossip when family gathers together with everyone pretending that they like one another but is actually cursing deeply in their hearts hoping that the other person will just drop dead… life just can’t get anymore pretentious than this.
But over the past three/four years, I came to like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I’m starting to learn to appreciate Chinese New Year more.
Thanksgiving
Honestly, I really don’t know a lot of people who celebrates Thanksgiving here in Malaysia. Come to think of it, I don’t know nobody who celebrates Thanksgiving in Malaysia… at all. Thanks, in no small part, to my PJ housemates, last year I celebrated we had our Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner. Mushroom soup, stuffed turkey, cranberry sauce, mash potatoes, margarita, Yule log… we really had everything going. Ash said grace, Sid (who looks uncannily like The Grinch) carved the turkey, Jacque had his Christmas outfit on, everybody was pissed drunk at the end of the night… sigh… I really miss that.
Christmas
(I think he probably wouldn’t even remember this by now, but...) I think it was about 3 years ago? I spent Christmas Day with Darrel and his family. The reason why I remember it was the lunch we had that day. It was nothing fancy, just something simple. There wasn’t even any present involved, partly because we’re kinda broke at that point, but I remembered it because of the warm Christmassy feel to it.
Chinese New Year
This is the worse of all festive seasons: Families gather together pretending to like each other; all the nosy relatives will get together and try to dig out dirt from other families so that they can feel good about theirs; as if kids running around like wild animals is not bad enough, the parents equip them with mini-explosives so that they could throw it at unsuspecting cats, dogs, or relative… provided IF the thing don’t explode in their face first.
Anyway… two years ago, I decided to spend CNY Reunion Dinner with my mother’s side of the family, and it was the first time I’ve ever had a proper CNY Reunion Dinner in 25 years! No kids running around, no mini-explosives, no gossipers… It was just a normal sit and dine event, where all us cousins make our grandparents laugh like mad. The table was definitely way too crowded for all of us, and our parents, but it was something to remember.
(In Memory Of Jacque – May he be happy wherever he is right now…)
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