Welcoming the rat year

Happy CNY everyone n happy V-day! ^_^v



It was a great CNY celebration (not literally celebration but it was a celebration to me, anyway).. I went back indo on CNY eve's morning.. i shared cab with vily (we LOVE cab sharing nowadays since the cab fare hike =.=;).... anyway.. we reached jakarta JUST as planned.. and my dad, despite the rumours of jakarta flood, arrived just nice too.. n praise the Lord, NO FLOOD.. =p



Well... let's just say that this is the irritating part... we were stuck in jakarta jam... and these are because of the ill-plannning n stubborness and egoistic of one side.. in the end, we set of to leave jakarta in the evening.. definitely would not make it for dinner...



The traffic to bandung was well... rather smooth.. even though we could not really drive at high speed.. we reached bandung after being on the highway for 2.5 hours?? not bad.. considering the traffic...!! When we reached, everyone has finished eating.. so it was our turn for dinner.. as soon as i was home, i forgot all the 'irritated thoughts' and 'ill feeling'.. =p just enjoy the company of the whole family gathering together..



Hong baos collecting was fun! hehe.. this year, i received 3 more hong baos from my 2 elder cousins and my aunt who just got married... i think they must have cursed me for coming back wakaka.. i mean.. these past years after they got married, there wasn't 1 year that i was home for cny.. or maybe once after my eldest cousin got married.. for the other 2, weehee... 2 more hong baos XD



The biggest joke of the night was when Mark, my little nephew, told me sweetly... not 'told me'.. he 'reminded' me.. that i have not given him hong bao yet XD XD.. everyone was laughing and laughing... n his mum said 'oui! not her time to give hongbao yet lah!!' n he simply laughed it out.. without knowing 'why' i can't give him hong bao yet wakakaa..




The CNY day, we were supposed to go to church... but then.. because of the late night the day before the cny eve.. and on the cny eve..... i missed =p... guess wad? my sis, my bro n my mum also missed... =p But we were up and ready before 9 o clock strikes.. because, if by 9 (my granma, my dad n the others came back from church) we were not ready downstairs, i think it would have been disasterous cny O_o'! we were already decorating, cutting out cakes.. kueh lapis.. kueh kering.. and our family's signature 'baso goreng' XD



The families came to our house to bainian and soon, other relatives came to visit.. (my granma is the oldest now.. after her sister's passing in january).. so, our house was definitely the first stop before everyone goes around bandung bainian-ing..



I have forgotten how it felt to have my house packed with about 35 people from 1 cluster of relative O_o' they were SOOO many that i could not remember them all.. n i tell you.. it was stupid... and funny... usually we'll say 'pa, ma, gongxi..' but to the 'unknown' relatives, I just said 'gongxi gongxi' or 'kiong hie..', omitting their titles.. =p



The family clusters came one after another.. until about 2pm... and it was OUR turn to bainian... hehe.. Every family has their own signature dish, aside from the boring usual kueh lapis... there's one family who always offer very nice 'rujak bebek'.... always welcomed after some tedious hours of bainian-ing and talkings... yummie... ^_^v



Finally, the reunion dinner at my mum's family side.. it was even MORE crowded than my dad's side of the family.. it was fun fun and FUN!! even though my koko and my uncle BOTH forgot to buy firecrackers :( The past years they always took turn to buy firecrackers.. and they will entertain our families, relatives and the neighbourhood with their pretty fireworks... last year, they BOTH bought O_o... n unfortunately.. this year.. they BOTH forgot.... SOBZ!!!!!! n they were saying to me 'haiya.. ur fault lagh... u came.. then we forgot to buy' haiya.. O_o' nvm.. it means i am the replacement for the fireworks... I AM the entertainer XD



we got to know new 'members' of the family.. and really talked to them.. =] there was my aunt who came back from US after being there for 6 years.. So the older generations spent their night really having 'reunion' XD.. while the younger generations got bored waiting for them to finish... (while we dont really want to go home either)..., took pictures... and more pictures and more pictures... we played some stupid games that makes everyone stopped talking and watched our games instead XD



It was a blessed new year celebration, ^_^... thx God for my family... thx God for my healthy granmas, thx God for my intact relatives.. and thx God for the food.. thx God for the new year.. thx God for everyday =]