Chinese New Year is just around the corner. Tomorrow’s the eve and we will attend a dinner party with Theresa’s 2 uncles and their families, together with a few other families, most of whom we have come to know a little bit over the past year. Theresa’s auntie would not be joining us as she would be with her husband’s (Marloney) family, who have been living in Melbourne for many years.

Apart from Christmas, Chinese New Year is one occasion during which I really want to be with my family. The more the merrier. It’s going to cost a little to be part of this party but it would be money I’d gladly spend. Sort of compensate for my lonely Christmas without Theresa and Elysia with me.

When I was a boy my brother and I used to spend the weeks leading up to CNY tidying and cleaning. My mother would drag out everything from every corner to clean out every speck of dust. The furniture would do an Aussie and spend hours basking in the sun. The frenzied working of dusters, buckets, brushes, rags, soap and mops would culminate on the morning of CNY Eve, to very quickly give way to the wok, pots and pans. The cooking activities would have started a few days before with cookie making, sunning dried shrimps, dried oysters and mushrooms. As the stoves fire away to a crescendo, we would be put to work changing sheets, cushion covers, fresh curtains, putting out the new rugs, and generally transforming the house into a fresh, clean and ornamented little chamber. The funny thing is we would then leave this beautified home all empty and go over to grandparents’ house for the Tuan Nien (Reunion) Dinner.

Grandfather would always have everyone over for the Tuan Nien Dinner. He would tell everyone very close to the day and that used to annoy my father. Everyone had to bring something and mother used to bring 3-4 dishes. Grandmother’s specialties were usually a pig tripe and pepper soup, a pork leg stew and glass noodles. Grandmother’s glass noodles were always very special. With everyone bringing at least 2 dishes and with up to 6 families there the largish dining table would be creaking under the weight of all the food. There was usually enough to feed the whole clan again for lunch and dinner the next day.

We usually stood around the 2 or 3 tables (one for the kids) while Grandfather said grace for the food. After dinner there would be a blend of groundnuts, mandarin oranges, mellon seeds, angpows and fireworks. It was the tradition that Grandmother would be the first to give out the angpows, on CNY Eve. Then Tibby, Thomas or Stephen would bring out some fireworks. The props were usually a lighted and broken mozzie coil, a few empty bottles (launching pads for “rocket”) and a few boxes of matches. It would go on and we wont be home till just before midnight.

Almost invariably, father would burn a finger lighting up one of those gigantic row of firecrackers. That too was tradition. We were told that Ah Choh (Grandfather’s mother) did that too – burned her own fingers playing firecrackers during CNY – so father was just keeping a family tradition alive, I guess. By the time we were old enough firecrackers have been formally banned, but of course that didn’t stop my neighbours from letting fly full bodied missiles which leave a bright bloodied trail on the roads the next morning. That is one part of CNY I wont be missing, especially in the serene suburbs east of Melbourne.

1 day after returning to Melbourne from their holidays in Malaysia, Theresa and Elysia were in the car with me when Theresa suddenly noticed how quiet everything was. There were a lot fewer cars on the road and it looked like a ghost town, she noted.

I love family gatherings but cannot stand the commotion of a festive celebration. Is that contradictory? I love CNY for all the getting together it brings, but hated the commotion which come with firecrackers and lion dances.

I feel old every time I philosophise but I’m going to do it anyway. Such really IS life – one takes the good with the bad. One bask in, enjoys the thrills, soak it up and revel in the goodness of something but puts up with and endures the bad which come with it. Work, parenting, physical wellness – they all come with bad parts to endure in order for the good bits to be enjoyed.

I’d gladly put up with the noisy, deafening firecrackers and annoying in-your-face lion dances, just to be with the rest of the family (my parents, brother and sisters and their families) again. Happy New Year and I will miss you all so very much tomorrow.