GONG HEI GONG HEI

.............to everyone out there........May your lunar OX year be blessed, blissful, prosperous with lots of wealth, adventurous and healthy!

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This year, the family did not take many pictures partly due to being lazy......lugging our SLR going around New Year visiting along with a 4-year old is quite a chore. (sound like a lame excuse?......opppsss......imagine those mummies with more than 2 kiddos.......hahaha)

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Alright, it's really lazy then for not taking pictures this year during our visiting. Ok, a little recall of what our troupe did during the past few days:-

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On Lunar New Year Day (26 January 2009)

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We woke up quite late into the morning at around 10ish (very unusual for us to wake up late on the first day throughout these years), munched some raisin bread and washed it down with coffee, changed into our brand new wears before stepping off to Kiet's paternal grandparents home. Before leaving, we definitely did not forget our usual rituals that is, for little boy to 拜年 and receive his first 红包 from us.

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Next up, while at the paternal grandparents', little boy is reluctant to do his 拜年 stint nor recite his 恭喜发财 (don't know due to whatsoever reason). He appeared very shy and expressed his displeasure when we 'pushed' him too much. Not wanting to upset him, we left him alone and decided to leave for mummy's maternal grandmother's home in Aljunied. Little boy finally did manage to co-operate before we left his paternal grandparents'.

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At his maternal grandmother's place, he was elated to meet his Uncles (Mummy's cousins) who played and entertained him. The maternal family gathered around for steamboat lunch shortly (our usual lunch arrangement every year). After lunch, we received a few guest and chatted for a while before deciding to depart for Mr Chua's mum's located at Telok Blangah.

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The usual amount of relative Mr Chua have always amazes us. Crowded in a small 3-room flat, the big and small family members added together can easily fill up the entire unit! We had to squeeze ourselves to move about the house every year without fail.

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Finally, the last point of the lunar first day will be Philip's place. All of the gang-friends will assemble at Phil's place in the evening to 拜年 and have our dinner there. Card games is inevitable and it will be played late into the wee hours. Children will also fill the house, running about or nudging each other for a chance to play the computer games.

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On 2nd Lunar New Year Day (27 January 2009)

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We went to the temple in the morning to offer our prayers for a good and smooth-sailing lunar year. Little boy was as usual in his cheerful self and was well-behaved most of the time at the temple.

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After that, we dropped by Philip's place again and since stayed there until dinner time, we headed for home as Daddy needed to report for work in the night.

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On 3rd Lunar New Year Day (28 January 2009)

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Mummy sent little boy to school and headed for breakfast alone. It's a cool relaxed day as most Singaporean are still away from their workplace. The most part of the day is spent lazing around watching cable movies and house-keeping. Not long, it's time to pick the child from the daycare.

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We arranged for yet again all of the gang-friends to assemble at Phil's place for a good round of poker game. The children played computer games while the guys entertained Phil's mum (with the ladies on-looking) and Phil's mum won quite a fair bit by the time the gang called the game quit at past 4am.

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On 4th Lunar New Year Day (29 January 2009)

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We slept over at Mr Chua's place until the late morning. Our children also skipped school today as they had a rather late night just like us. We left for lunch at home then continued to take a nap in the afternoon. By evening, we got changed and left for dinner at Vivocity.

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We brought a water-spray gadget for dear son from Toys-R-Us (upon his long delayed request) after our dinner as Daddy had promised to bring Kiet for a swim and water-play some time when he is free. Mummy also brought herself a pair of shoes since Charles and Keith is on sale and she needed to change her working pair soon.

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We headed home shortly as Philip rang up and informed that the gang is dropping by our place for lunar new year visit.

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