All About Your Child

15 days of Chinese Lunar New Year celebration is probably the period where my kids will go crazy over their 2nd-love-of-their-little-lives : Chinese Lion Dance.

They are everywhere. We saw these 2 live size lion-dance-head in the supermarket and my boys just kept saying “I want to take photo with the lion-dance.”

Allan suggested at that very point, “Why don’t we just get one for them to play?”

Me, “One?! You must be joking! They will fight for it like hell!”

Allan, “Ok then lets get 2 of them then.”

But deep in our heart we know that to buy this auspicious lion during this season will be paying too much above it original value.

Allan, “So long as they like it.”

So we bought 2 at S$18 each. It was the cheapest we found. Everywhere else that sells the same size were going at S$26 and above.

Its a good buy afterall, we thought. Anyway they were in cloud nine when we paid for the heads.

The moment they reach home, they went crazy with it and started to dance with the head and with the Lion Dance VCD which we bought last year.

See how sweaty they are after the vigorous dance. Good exercise afterall I guess. The shirts were so wet that I needed to get them changed before I bathe them later. ‘cos I know the 2nd dance will start again after a short rest.

Then we spotted these 2 mini size ones in one of the small shops around. “Mummy, I want this, I want this!” Its S$3.90 each, so we thought, what the heck, just get it.

The heads are on spring, so they shake when you touch their heads.They are car ornaments. You know, those springy cutie stuff that you put on your dashboard of the car and when you drive, they starts to bounce up and down.

Lion Dance usually comes with Dragon Dance.

This is one huge dragon that happen to be around our neighbourhood. Luckily the boys are not so much into this. I can’t imagine how cramp our place would be if they insisted to bring even a mini size home. The actual one can go up to 20metres long!

This year’s Chinese Lunar New Year is the one I believe I will enjoy the most, as I am deprived of enjoying this season for 7 years! All because of my retail business. During this time of the year, I am still busy tending my stall at the different shopping malls.

I don’t even have time to decorate my house or even do a proper clean up. Now that I have stopped my retail business as my main source of income. I told myself that I must enjoy myself to the fullest to make up for the 7 years of ‘misery’.

So we went shopping at Chinatown and really shop till we drop. We ‘dropped’ because we had to keep carrying the boys after walking for more than 3 hours. And so we began our shopping.

All the other Disney characters like Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet came along to make the streets of Chinatown come alive.

Taking photos here and there brings out the big smile on the children faces.

Then came the happiest part for the kids. I allowed the kids to choose any sweets and chocolates they like and dump them into the plastic bag. The sweets were going at S$1 per 100gm. The chocolates cost S$2 per 100gm.

So we had 2 packets, one for sweets and one for chocolates. There were over 50 different types to choose from. The kids were in heaven for that short 10 mins.

Mini-Mandarin orange plants were at every corner.
Lanterns were everywhere too.

The long dangling thing is but a fake now. Unlike in the 60s, the real firecrackers goes popping at every household during Chinese New Year Eve at 12 midnite to welcome the new year with a big bang.

Flower shops were always full of aunties grabbing a big bunch or two.

These cotton-like buds are the only plants we get to see during this time of the year. Since young, I have been amazed by this plant. They started off as sticks, then small brown buds start to form, when the ‘brown cover’ falls off, the cotton-like bud appears. The ‘cotton’ grows bigger and bigger till the leaves appear and then the flowers starts to bloom.

Then there were the decorations. This year there are so many of these decoration shops all because Singapore managed to get Mickey Mouse in as this year is the year of the Rat, my sister, Angela’s year, meaning she is 24 years old lor…getting old…hee hee hee…

My kids sharp eyes spotted these 2 huge lion-dance head right on top of the shop houses. “Mummy, seeeeee….seeeee… Lion Dance so high up”

This is my favourite part. Lots of yummy yummy cookies which you can only find during Chinese Lunar New Year. We bought almost S$100 Chinese New Year stuff home this year.

These are all the special fruits that every household should have – Mandarin Oranges, ‘Hulu’ and Pomelo as each represents Good Luck, Good Fortune and Lots of Wealth.

Although so sweaty, smelly and tired at the end of it all, but I am definitely a happy soul!