Today marks the end of my visiting, any other ang baos will be classified as extra revenue. Cny has been better for me this year as compared to the previous year. I only have two regrets. First, I haven't eaten a single steamboat meal during the festive season. Second, I didn't get the chance to spend cny with my maternal relatives in Batam.

I thought I had successfully convinced my mum to have steamboat for reunion dinner, but I found out I was so wrong at the dining table. Nevertheless, my mum said that those few dishes cost a bomb so I shouldn't be complaining. And I never bluff you all ok..we eat red rice at home. CAN YOU SEE O.O

Lao yu sheng. A pity we were 7 days early for that dish..supposed to do it today.

My fav picture of the year!! Ah ma is in the picture :)

Compare this with last year's. I thought people say you're supposed to look older as you increase with age and wisdom. Some kind friends just keep annoying me by claiming I have the baby face.

Mother and son. It's heart wrenching to know that my grandma, because of her old age, doesn't even recognise her sons and daughters anymore.

Ah ma used to stay at my house when I was young. She'd always stand on my side whenever I fight with my elder bro. I used to sit with her and listen to her tell stories about the Japanese occupation and the grandfather whom I've never met in my life. This year I decided to spend more time with her, because seriously, you'll never know how soon her time here on earth will be up.

I sat with her at my aunt's place, held her arms when she needed to walk to the next block where my uncle stayed, listened to talk (although most of the time she's simply mumbling already), and kept telling her I'm her granddaughter and she has lots of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren!! Ah ma has forgotten everything, but the only two things she remembers are she has 10 children, and money is very important.

All the children and in-laws

(By courtesy of meiyi) grandchildren and in-laws and great grandchildren. We're so lucky there's Si Dai Tong Tang!!

Youngsters' happy hour: ktv on chu yi. The lion looks scary.

We sang till 230am. This photo was not taken by my cam, I think my camera quality is better. IXUS 870 rawks! :)

We certainly gave Macs lots of business.

Other amusing stuff that happened during cny:

1) After the latest visit to the ktv, I think my singing has deteriorated tremendously.

2) My bro and I drove a car to the ktv while my other cousins shared a company lorry. When we parted ways at the red light my bro thought it was a comical sight that the guys were all sitting behind like foreign workers in the lorry. So he rolled down his window and shouted over to their lorry "Eh careful your work permit ah! Xiao xin kai gong" (direct translation: be careful when working) A few moments later when we reached home, my cousin messaged me "Eh tell your bro his mouth very smelly. We really kana police check."

3) My auntie commented that my dress was pretty! But then again, it was from an auntie's point of view.

4) If you were to look at the photos again, you would realise most of my cousins have gotten married. The only girls left on the shelf are me, my sis and my cousin who's of the same age as me. When we were queuing up in a row to collect ang baos (youngest in front, oldest behind), my auntie shouted "From this side onwards everybody go find a boyfriend or girlfriend and get married off!" Luckily my sister is not married. Otherwise I must be the next to get married you know LOLS.

5) With my da gu ma as the news broadcaster of the Foo family, news travel faster than lightning, especially bad news. My cousins told me news about my sister is actually old news already, and when their mothers tell them about it, they'd always say "bu yao gen bie ren jiang ah". Amazingly, "bu yao gen bie ren jiang ah" became "dao chu gen bie ren jiang ah".

6) I had a good family lunch on chu er. It is almost like a miracle to me.