Part (a):
During the eve of Chinese New Year, my cousin and her parents came to our house in the morning. My grandmother was elated as her youngest son came back from Thailand to celebrate Chinese New Year. In the afternoon, we ate steamboat for reunion dinner. After the water had boiled, we added noodles, Japanese udon, fish balls, meat balls, prawns, etc, into the steamboat. It was the first time we added Japanese udon into steamboat! When the food had cooked, we began to eat. I tried the Japanese udon. It was delicious! While eating, we started a conversation. After eating, the adults went to the living room to chat and watched television while my cousin, brother and I went to my room. In my room, we chatted about school life, listened to famous songs and played cards games.
At about 4 p.m., my cousin and her parents went home. Then, we started hanging up decorations as it was the auspicious hour. My brother and I helped my mother to choose the nice mandarin oranges and put them on the plate nicely. We had enjoyed choosing and placing the mandarin oranges. My family and I stayed up until midnight to watch Channel 8, Chinese New Year’s special programme. As the clock stroked twelve, we jumped for joy, shook hands and said “Happy New Year” to one another. My parents gave us red packets. Next, we prayed. After praying, we were so exhausted and slept immediately once our head hit the bed.
The next morning, we changed into new clothes. My aunt, uncle, cousin and her parents came to our house. We exchanged mandarin oranges, red packets and said auspicious words to each other. We ate peanut-filling rice balls. As we bit the rice balls, the peanut filling came out of the other side of the rice ball. We laughed and chatted heartily while eating.
In the afternoon, we went to my maternal grandparents’ house. When we reached there, we were warmly welcomed by them. My brother and I were given red packets and we ate lunch there. Then, we visited my granduncle in his house just opposite my maternal grandparents’ house.
After visiting my granduncle, we went to Bugis Shopping Centre to watch the movie “The Wedding Game” with my cousin and her parents. I felt that some parts of the movie were comical but some parts were boring. After watching the movie, we went home.
The next day, all my relatives from my paternal side came to my house. My mother and aunt cooked a wide spread of delicious food. My father went to Ubi to buy Yu Sheng. Before eating lunch, we “lao” Yu Sheng. We had to bring our chopsticks as high as possible saying auspicious words. It was great fun. Then, we joined two tables together so that everyone would have a place to sit and savour the delicious food. Next, we went to pray in a temple in Loyang and visited two of my relatives’ house.
I like Chinese New Year as I can bond with my family and relatives. Moreover, I can see my relatives who had not come for a long time.
By: Yu Shan
