How was CNY changed over the years for you and your fam?
For mine, our schedule has gotten much chiller over the years. We used to visit some distant elder relatives out of respect but they have since passed on (RIP) and we aren’t close with any of their other descendants to visit them. Also, some family dramas happened over the years so we dont visit some cousins anymore. Less angpao money but more time to ourselves – lose some gain some la hor
Another thing is that reunion dinner has become more significant to us because with school and work we rarely get the chance to have dinner together as a whole family so it’s something that we look forward to every year to enjoy good food and enjoy each other’s company
Oh and we (mostly my siblings and I) have become more crowd-averse as we become adults so no thanks to squeezing with throngs of humans at Chinatown/Marina Bay too
Overall I feel like CNY has lost some of the magic and excitement I enjoyed as a child but at the same time, there are other parts of this holiday that we grew to appreciate more and of course a 2-day holiday will forever be welcome 😀
Netizens’ comments
- The big tree(ah gong/ah ma) starts dying left and right and everyone else just dont bother going back anymore.
- My mum had issues with their relatives, and so I don’t really visit my cousin or other relatives’ places as we had become distant. In fact, I really don’t like CNY especially if you don’t even celebrate with anyone.
- I’ve similar sentiments, CNY was a lot more enjoyable when I was younger, there were more relatives alive (I miss my grandparents who have passed on), we could spend more time with each other without technology getting in the way (nowadays people would rather look at their smartphone than have entertainment unrelated to tech), haven’t seen some of my relatives for some time due to covid restrictions, and this year I’m gonna be spending CNY alone due to personal reasons.
It’s as if many of the things that made CNY what it is, is slowly fading away over time. I guess good times don’t always last, don’t they?