I remember those days when I was much younger.
Hari Raya was more fun.

You don't need to be cleaning the house because I had a domestic helper for 16 years since I was at the age of 4.

Plus nearing Raya, mom will bring us to Isetan to get pink dresses and new sets of clothes.
Not only that we get new clothes, mom will buy for us new singlets and panties.

She likes us wearing white singlets cos it looks clean and pink panties.

*lol*

We didn't need to fret what to wear on which day of the celebration cos mom would have decided.

The only thing I hated about Raya back then was the shoes that she will always buy for us.
I remember she will always buy for us pink or red shoes from Americaya.
Leather shoes with really good grip at the bottom of it.
I always hated the design and the fact that the shoes are flat.

I mean girls at the age of 8 to 11 are all very vain kannnnn that time so all we wanted was to wear heels like the mommies.
But mom never allowed it.
Today, I understood. When I brought my baby cousin out to buy her Raya shoes, I made the same decision as mom only that she get to make the final decision.

I'm sure she felt pretty on Raya.

Another thing I hated was that mom made us wear gold jewellery.
I felt so rimas!!!!

Now Raya is different.
You want it new, you go find yourself and purchase it with your own money.
From top to toe.
The good thing is that I get to make my own choices.
Again from top to toe - yes! including handbags.

But probably the amount spend multi-folds.


It will just get worse as time passes by.


I remember the times when we went visiting for Raya, mom really made us behave.
My siblings and I didn't barge from our seats.
Just sat and watch tv.
We were asked to make mom take for us the festive goodies and we were not allowed to ask for too much.

There were certain houses which we went and we didn't even get our money packets.
First we whined - normal la.. kids. Then we were being told why we didn't receive and why we should not expect because Hari Raya was the time we catch up with our relatives.
Rich or poor.


Today, Hari Raya is entirely different.

The kids run around your house like nobody's business.
The word fragile is not even in their head.
Fine.. kids being kids, they simply tend to misbehave irregardless of boundaries. But nevertheless, the parents had no initiative to take any form of action.
Even if they marah, ya Allah, so lemah longlai so obviously the kids will not listen.

But I made sure they listen to me.

They mess up the kuih muih.
Touch but never eat.
Eat half and puts it back.
Even these mak mak (I don't see this happening to the men) can use their bare fingers and take half of a newly-cut kek lapis, leaving the other half there.
what do they expect?
The next round of guests to eat their leftovers.

It's truly sickening.

Today, kids can whine and complain in front of house owners that they don't get money packets.
This happen in front of my own eyes.

Kids coming to my house will leave having 3 packets in their pockets.
A whooping $18 for a 30-minute tornado ride.
So while they complain, I told their moms that the kids have not salam me.
Straight-faced I said,"This is not 3-in-one. Salam one get three."

Don't you think it is embarassing enough that I have to educate the mom, hoping she would educate back to the kid?

I have cousins who would always have this muka-tak-sudah. But following tradition I gave their babies or kids.

Wa lau eh.. in the end, mak dier salam aku pun tidak ok!
And that is apart from the fact that I am older than them. Ish!

Ok this is worse.

Mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers scream demanding me that I missed out a packet for their son, daughter or even cucu who is at home!

Jumpa kat rumah orang-orang lain boleh buang muka ni.. ada hati nak sampai rumah orang.

I would usually kirim but I literally have hundreds of cousins that I do miss out at times.

But don't you really think it is shameful?

I never had any problems with my mom's cousins.
Though there are many of us with differences, we never made it an issue or even an issue out of it.
Everything is done amicably.

Raya outings are always fun with them.
They never fret about money that I made sure each of them had their share.
Baby cousins are always cute and the mak mak sure have a lot of stories to tell.
People like me, Lil' Sis and Shikin will get the best of both worlds, since we are neither here nor there.

And just like the Jawa people, you can always count on them for food.
They are always out there feeding you.
Never menyelodork and even the kids are not rude.

Raya has yet to be over though the bulk has completed their visitings and my family have completed our bulk.

The camera went haywire after the 2nd day of Raya so below is all that I have to offer.

The sisters



Always with the cute-sies.





This is super-cute.



My niece who met us that day for the first time, found solace with my dad's tummy.
Then she got down, took her Dumbo and climbed on dad's lap again only to snuggle at the folds of his stomach, ignoring all of us laughing at her.


Did too much visiting that by the end of Day 2, I was falling sick.
It hit the peak on Sunday itself and it was worse when it was the day where we had invited our guests over.

I was hit with a terrible flu, which I hate cos the body is so weak.
Still I pushed myself to clean up the house and did whatever was necessary.

Worse, I was on a phlegm and mucus overload, followed by losing my voice.
Cough was horrendous and the nose tap would not shut.
I have still yet to recover.

In fact, now I am having an ulcer at the back of my mouth - which is why I ended up blogging.

Upon coming in to office, I spoke little but managed to shock Boss and had to spend a bit more time convincing people on the telephone that it is really me.

Already before I was hit with a bad throat, my voice is already deep.
So go get your imagination wild how it sounded like for the past 3 days and still counting.I scared bosses, secretaries and whoever was on the phone with me

Full view of the Hari Raya pics on Facebook!
For now, I am almost at the peak of exhaustion so I shall head to the most peaceful place at home - my bed.

Night all!