What Are You Celebrating This Spring?

The Hectic Year-End Festivities

 Before I could even put away my Christmas ornaments and discard the Christmas tree, Chinese New Year music had already drowned out the cacophony of bargaining shoppers at Chinatown.   Chinese restaurants were already collating reservations for Chinese New Year corporate luncheons and family dinners.  Most offices and mall spaces were plastered in red-colored decorations,  ranging from the ubiquitous  calligraphy of auspicious couplets, hanging mobiles in the shape of papier-mâché dancing lions, fire-crackers and pineapple-shaped lanterns.

Over the Christmas season, I found myself diving into a hectic rush of preparing a Christmas dinner menu, cooking up a storm and buying gifts  in between completing my work at the office during the day and managing a flood of Tarot readings in the evenings and during weekends.  When the New Year arrived, I had decided that the best way to spend the New Year was to rest my weary soul by camping out at home in the corner of my sofa in front of the television.  I never moved out of that position all day apart from when I needed a pee.  Even my meals were served up to me as I slouched in the couch. I was too tired to do anything else.

What a waste.

What Do I Want To Celebrate This Spring?

I was determined that this Chinese New Year, it had to be different.  I had to appreciate the significance of a festive season that welcomed back the Spring.  It was a festive season that celebrated family togetherness.  It was a the highlight of the Chinese Lunar  calendar that marked the intent for us to create a fresh start, a new beginning.  It was a 15 -day celebration where married couples and older relatives would be handing out little red packets filled with money as a gesture of good luck.  The elderly Aunties in the family would attempt to match-make the next generation of young unmarried relatives within the family, in the hope of extending the family with babies born in the next few years.  The cousins would come together to play a few rounds of Black Jack.  If you’re lucky, you might add a few more dollars to the collection of red packets you had received earlier.

This Chinese New Year festivities will span over a long 4-day weekend. It would be a good time for me to spend more time with my parents, in particularly, my Mum.  Our relationship has been bouncing up and down according to the volatility of our tempers so my approach to Mum as she judiciously organizes the family activities during the Chinese New Year period, is one of humble gratitude.  I want to restore my relationship with Mum, knowing that she has given her time and effort to loving me so selflessly.

I have also had time to think about my constant exhaustion.  Instead of blaming it on juggling all the different commitments in my life, I have decided to recharge my energy by getting back in touch with nature through the 11km trail walks through the MacRitchie Reservoir forest trail.

I used to do that quite regularly in the past but have stopped these walks for awhile with poor excuses given to justify my sleeping in.   I had done well kicking my diet back into shape post the year end festive feasting.  Now I had to use that walk to kick start my fitness regime.  

So this Spring, I am celebrating Family, Fun and Fitness.  What are you celebrating?

About the writer:

The writer of this blog post is a 43 year old mother of one, who spreads her time between her day job as a marketeer at a financial institution, her hobby as a certified professional tarot reader and numerologist, and her family which includes a 19 year old son.  She's married to a Scot who has been affectionately called "The Crazy AngMo" and prays that he does not find out that the term when translated, has labeled him as a "Ginger Head".