On the first day of CNY 2009

Woke up late as I went to sleep only past 1 am. Still..... there were 2 sleepy heads who were fast asleep. By the time everyone was up and ready to go, it was already past 10am.

First stop was my former landlady (as has been the case for the past umpteen years that I can remember). Despite the late hour, we were still the first family to start the year with them.Her son, Ah Seong and kids were there. And later, my former classmate (from primary 1 to 6) and schoolmate (from secondary 1 to 5) also dropped by to visit his mum. Ming is looking a lot more like his late father now.

And that was the only family we visited this year on the morning of the first day. We would normally have covered at least 3 families. But for this round, my brother-in-law's Mother-in-law is in ICU and it is not the right time to visit them this year.

Luckily we went home earlier. 8th aunt and uncle and 3rd uncle were already at my house. A short while later, 5th uncle and extended family showed up. A slight misunderstanding. They thought that I had invited them for lunch on the 1st day, when it was supposed to be the second day. My brother Danny also came in late. Madeline and Vincent showed up after being summoned. Before long, my maternal cousins showed up too. Gee.... visitations to my house started very much earlier this year. I normally expect the guests to show up from the second day onwards.

After a few hours and most of the guests had departed, we made our way to Vincent's parents house. Here is a tale of 2 spare tires. One is developing like mine - long term and probably difficult to get rid of later. The other only have to carry for 9 months and then (hopefully) lose it.

Next stop was the Ngs. Every year they invite a lion dance troupe to their house and every year, we are invited. Here's the proud Dad with his 2 lovely daughters. Mun Mun even put on shoes on Jackie the dog. It walked funny.

We left Alex there for a while while we sent Mandy (my niece) back and then went to Jusco to buy the stuff for steamboat the next day. Just before leaving for the supermart, Farriz SMSed me using Izan's phone. Izan had just delivered twin baby girls!!! I then forwarded the news to the rest of the department. I think Izan may have told her hubby that ANN (Agilent News Network) works well.

Congratulations to Izan and Farriz - the newly minted parents - on this Ox-picious day.

Update at 10pm (Malaysia time): Just received word that Oi Chan's mum has passed away peacefully. She had a long drawn fight with cancer. Oi Chan, my thoughts are with you and condolences to you and your family. May your mum rest in peace.