Eat, drink and celebrate

* Gong Hei Fatt Choy *

This year, I have extra luck with my two of my angpows. Aunty Lily and my hard-core gambler cousin have generously added lottery tickets to their angpow givings. My mood instantly reversed when I saw the two lottery tickets as I was in a grouchy, non-festive mood the whole week.

Last year, one of my aunts announced loudly that I'm the oldest among my cousins to be getting angpow- 'So when will that end ah? Better get married fast fast'. Really, that annoying reminder dampened my mood. I wasn't looking forward to hearing words of 'encouragement' to get married soon, when receiving angpows from the older generation and married cousins.

But I had fun this year. I played blackjack with my 11 year old cousins with 20 sen bettings. It was cheap thrill being the card dealer with three 11 year old boys. When they lose, they looked so disheartened and gave long sighs of 'aiyah' And when they win, they'd whoop and clap and cheer. Yeah, all for 20 sen winnings.

And I discovered that drinking beer is the best way to combat heatiness from overindulging in prawn crackers, dried meat and pineapple tarts.