-3niGma-: new years.

everytime when new year comes.

theres always this sense of anticipation.

when we start to buy carton & cartons of beer *thx to mandy's vouchers, so much more beers this yr...

when we start cleaning the house and fight over "wanna throw this? or dont wanna throw this?"

when we start calling all our siblings to balik rumah and deco the hse, hanging lights... red clothes... oranges.

i remember when amah was around, we'd sit down and start cutting the angpao packets.

into little little lanterns, fishes, all sorts.

amah would teach us new ones every few yrs, those that she learn from others and the newspapers cut outs, some even her own invention i think.

i remember days when we use to sit beside the glass window in the afternoon, and she'll tear out papers from her old school exercise books. We'll spend the whole afternoon making boats, paper balls, paper cranes... Come to think of it, amah was the one to sparked my interest in DIY arts & crafts since i was a kid. she was the reason why i loved making cards & handicrafts. :)

When new year came, amah always makes these huge angpao lanterns. and every year there'd be some new inventions & addition, some flowers, some gold decors, tails, different shapes, different designs. Amah's angpao lanterns were always something we'd look forward to. :)

and being amah, she'll make 4 different pairs of angpao lanterns, eventho 1 is already so hard to do. She'll make 8, and give them to every single house. so we all have smthg to hang on CNY.

i never did learn up those huge lanterns, probably i was too young, or too busy or jus *regretfully* too lazy.

When she started falling ill, we rarely did these crafts anymore. Until when she passed away, we kept the last pair that amah made, and we used it for a few more yrs. Like treasures they were to us. We tried to preserve it so much. Somehow it felt different, to have her touch in the house.

Today, (4 yrs after amah passed on)... we had our prayers in the morning, on the day before CNY. more like a family reunion, we gathered for lunch & dinner. On the table was all of amah's fav dish, even down to DURIANS! amah loved durians!

Indeed there was that sense of anticipation for the CNY, but sumhow, there's also this strong sense of emptiness, that she's not here. Her lanterns had also withstand the test of time, falling apart already. So today, after lunch... i sat down and started to make the huge angpao balls.

its a frustrating process, serious! all the details... I'm so ashamed of the details which i did not noticed at first. :(

But here's the outcome. *amah i love u

LB has this really cute thing this CNY where they give out stickers and you can deco ur own Mandarin Oranges! dress them up and they'll be your Lucky Tigers!!

Gave them to my cousins today, they loved it! so adorable!!