Chinese New Year

"Here's to the bright New Year, and a fond farewell to the old; here's to the things that are yet to come, and to the memories that we hold."


Today is officially the third day of the Chinese New Year(CNY). The past three days have been "fun", including the eve of the CNY which the family are supposed to get together, sit down, and have a proper reunion dinner. As usual, every eve of CNY, I'll have to visit my grandmother's place to have reunion dinner with the rest of my extended family. My extended family is really huge(well, maybe not as huge as some of my friends have, but still I consider it as huge), consisting of perhaps more than 20 people? Not all came, since some chose to come on the actual day of the CNY.


Reunion dinner is the same each year. I don't very much see the difference. Compared to others, I seem very much closer to my relatives. Ya, I am indeed close to my relatives, especially the older ones. All my uncles and aunts, my cousins and my grandmother herself, I am very close to them. I'm comfortable talking to 80% of my extended family, maybe due to the fact that I see them quite frequently since I was born, having to visit my grandmother's place every fortnight, and I'm going to be 17 this year so you guys get the idea. I can easily crack jokes and laugh with my uncles, chat with my much older cousins(most are above 25, two even got married already), and interact with the cousins near my age too. I pretty much know everybody in my extended family and even beyond. My dad is the youngest son of my grandparents, so therefore I'm one of the youngest grandchildren too. 


Every CNY, there's usually the ambience, the air and the surroundings, full of the CNY spirit. Yes, decorations are put up, and we are doing what we've done over the years... But somehow this year seems a little different. It just seem that this year seems a little colder. I wasn't the first person to notice this year's difference. My cousins as well as my other relatives felt the same way too. I mean, this year is the Year of the Dragon, perceived by many to be an very auspicious year! But I just can't feel the CNY spirit. Is it the fact that we keep repeating the same stuff year after year, that made us unable to feel exceptionally happy on a certain occasion which marks the start of a new year(according to the lunar calendar). Is the magic lost?


Then again, I don't feel the magic fading away for other occasions like Christmas, New Year's Day etc. Well, when I think about it, even National Day got affected. I went to the National Day Parade(NDP) last year and the crowd there was no longer as hyped as it was. I still remember when I'm only Primary Three or Two when I first went to the NDP and we were really hyped and I can feel the patriotism all around the Kallang Stadium. 


Perhaps it really is too repetitive that we are actually "bored" on these significant occasions... Is it really so? Or did people's thoughts change?