Chinese New Year happenings

So this time round, we ushered in the year of the rabbit. The celebrations started on the eve of the eve of Chinese New Year, with dinner for the Ng clan at Mandarin restaurant. There were cousins and aunties from Vietnam, Miri, Penang, KL, and great aunt Anna from London. So it was pretty much a complete reunion!

The next day was "Sa Chap Meh", literally translated it means 30th night. It is the eve of Chinese New Year, when families get together for dinner and as always, there will be waaay too much food served!

 The kids eyeing the Coke!

 So first, we had lunch at my dad's. It was much quieter this year, because the "Singaporeans" could not make it back home this time around.

Anyway, as tradition dictates, we would usually light some firecrackers before starting the feast. For your information, fireworks and firecrackers are illegal here, but that doesn't stop the Chinese community from lighting up the Kuching sky at midnight on Sa Chap Meh! *we rock!* :)

After lunch, we exchanged ang pows; red packets containing lucky money. Only married couples are required to give ang pows to children. So this is when having 4 kids comes in handy!! :)

Later that night, the celebrations were at the Ng home. It was the dinner feast with family first, then the other relatives popped by later for second rounds!

After everyone was stuffed to the point of regurgitation, came the pyrotechnics! This is Hubby's department and he usually goes overboard when purchasing his weapons of mass destruction! This year however, he managed to restraint himself and only bought a carton of fireworks and another of firecrackers. He also got some flying lanterns and sparklers for the kids to play with.

Here are some gorgeous photos not taken by me! :)

Next on the agenda, after the kids went to bed, was the gambling!

Just some small time Blackjack... Chinese New Year is not complete without Blackjack!

The fireworks started as soon as the sun went down, and became deafening towards midnight. The noise even woke Annie and Solomon up! So they came down to see the colourful display. At midnight we joined in the fun and lit some crackers. After another 15 minutes of frenetic explosions and choking smoke, the racket started dying down until 12:30pm it stopped cause it started to rain. What excellent timing!

Anyway, after going to bed at 3am, the next day, the first day of Chinese New Year, was filled with visiting relatives' houses.

Then on the second day, we went on our trip to Genting Highlands and KL... and that's another post...

Poor Solomon doesn't appreciate all the loud noise from fireworks and lion dances. For a few nights, he even fell asleep with his fingers plugging his ears!