It's that time of the year once more. The time of the year where all Chinese add a year to their age--Chinese New Year!

How should I put it.. this is truly my 1st time celebrating Chinese New Year away from home. And the strangest thing? I don't really miss it alllll that much! I mean, sure, I crave that family warm feeling that creeps up unsuspectingly once in a while.

No family reunion dinners, no springcleaning (ok..minimal), no paying of respects to my wai po (granny) and relatives in m'sia, no major snacking of cny goodies, listening to dad blasting his cny songs, no traditional house-hopping with my 3 gorgeous babes, no visiting at jack's place for games with the rest, no ang-bao receiving.

I'm missing it all, but surprisingly, I'm doing well without it! There's hardly a breath of chinese new year festivity/ atmosphere here, so it's not really all that surprising i guess.

Last year, as I recall, cny wasn't all that fun, coz I was down with a viral fever. it was... unmemorable, simply because I was so woozy I couldn't really recall much! Still had some fun though. Had a good dinner with my family.. visited the Director's house w colleagues, got ang baos from colleagues (*YAY*!), lao yu sheng in the office, dinner at the restaurant with all my colleagues--Fatty Weng or smthg, visiting jack's place. was too sick to travel to m'sia though..

yeah, that was pretty much how i remembered last year. and this year? Tonight, we're gonna have steamboat - Terrence, PP, Jacky & me. a warm little gathering where we pig out and mahjong after. poor jacky's still down (and now, out) with the flu.. been 2 weeks? doesn't affect his appetite at all though. *laughs* Yup, and on sunday (tmr), we're gonna head to the Union for a chinese party with performances and food.

Anyhow, just doing a little reminiscing. I've got 2 back-dated posts that I really wanted to put up but it'll take awhile longer - of the very snowy day on Feb 7 (2nd time it snowed here this winter!) and of coz, my first proper valentine's day. No kidding~

Saturday, Chinese New Year's eve in Guildford, Surrey, UK. 7,000 miles away from home. Leaveless trees, quaint little houses, peaceful and a slight fog settlingly o'er the distant houses and trees. Remarkable beauty but somehow, gazing upon it alone doesn't do wonders for my soul.

Labels: Chinese New Year Eve