Blessings #3
Journey of giving and receiving continued – childhood
My family was poor when I was a child, but I had a lot of fond memories. When I think of my childhood, I think of safe environment, friendly neighborhood, slow pace of life, creativity of making toys and games, family closeness and simple life.
My favorite family time was Chinese New Year. We had one week off from school and my dad had five days off from work. On New Year’s Eve, Flower Markets took place in major parks. They were open from early evening on New Year’s Eve to 5:00 a.m. on New Year’s Day. One year, I went to the Flower Market with my older sister and her then boyfriend. We lived in Sai Wan, so we took the tram to Causeway Bay Park. By the time we were done walking through the entire market, there were no tram in operation until morning. We followed the tram track and took one hour and thirty-five minutes to walk home. I was half asleep even though my feet were moving with my sister holding my hand. My other hand was holding something my sister bought me. Since I was falling asleep, I dropped the thing on the ground. I bent down, picked it up and continued walking.
By the time we got home, my mom had made special food as part of the Chinese New Year ritual. We ate, and then went to sleep for a few hours. On New Year’s Day, everyone put on new clothing. Kids would say, “Gung Hei Fat Choi” (Wishing you prosperous) to the parents and adults. Our parents and the adults in the neighborhood gave us kids Lucky Money in red envelopes. The tradition was that the married people gave Lucky Money to the kids and unmarried adults. We loved that because we could keep all of our Lucky Money. The first three days of Chinese New Year, we went to our relatives to wish them Happy New Year. The kids received Lucky Money from aunts and uncles.
We had our annual three activities on the 4th day of Chinese New Year. It was something we looked forward to because we did that year after year. We went to Tiger Balm Garden which was a private estate that eventually became a museum. After Tiger Balm Garden, we went to Botanic Arboretum, and then the Governor’s Garden which was open to public during Chinese New Year.
To be continued……
This actually reminds me strongly of the descriptions my father gave of growing up in 1960s Singapore – he didn’t have a lot, either, but he still remembers his childhood fondly. My family still observes a lot of similar Chinese New Year traditions to the ones you described – red packets, visiting relatives, and of course making special food (the food is my favourite part by far XD)! And speaking of Tiger Balm Garden, Tiger Balm is still very widely used in my country for aches and pains. The Garden reminds me of Haw Par Villa, and the Governor’s Garden reminds me of how the Istana would also be open to the public during festivals… wow, there are so many parallels! Thank you for this post, and I hope to read more of your writing soon 🙂
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Wow! yes, there are so many parallel experiences. I’v never thought of anyone who could relate to my story. Thank you for letting me know. Now I know that at least you could relate to my story. I really appreciate your comment.
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A lovely memory so well portrayed, Miriam!
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Thank you for reading it. Poor or not poor, didn’t make any difference. We had fun.
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Absolutely, I think in childhood money (or the lack of it) did not really count!
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It’s very true!
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I really like your post and your approach to being thankful and appreciative. Count your blessings one by one!
Next month, I’m launching a monthly challenge called TRAVEL BLESSINGS. Your stories are treasured and you have a platform to share.
https://scenethat.wordpress.com/travel-blessings-photo-challenge/
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Lovely remembrance!
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I better write them down before not being able to do it. Just went to a scholar friend’s memorial service. He knew many languages, wrote many books. Eight years ago he started dementia. His colleagues, students were grateful that he wrote all the books before his memory deteriorated. I have one of his Bible commentary. He spoke Hebrew and Greek fluently.
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Oh my gosh. That is such a poignant event, the scholar-friend’s writing and his progressive dementia. 😦 Thank you for sharing that insight!
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Between this situation and my daughter’s motivation, I will write when I still can. He translated Psalm 1 directively from Hebrew for me when I was going through chemo for my cancer.
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How wonderful, what a wonderful gift. 🙂
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Yes, it was very special!!
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Miriam, do you have a favorite book or section of the Bible? Is it Psalms?
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I love Psalm. I remember for years of devotion, I would read wither NT or OT, but along with it, I read Psalms and Proverb. Psalms 8 is my favorite in terms of how small we are but God puts us a little lower than angels!
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It’s on my 60th Birthday this year so no lovely Chinese meal for me 😫 it’s so good reading of your memories and finally understanding what Chinese New Year actually means … thank you for sharing 😁
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Thank you for reading it. My daughter wants to hear my story. So it motivates me to write it! Early happy birthday to you!!
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Thank you, Happy early New Year New to you too 😉
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Thank you so much! I don’t really celebrate because I don’t live in the Chinese community. A couple cities have celebration.
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Oh in those times we only played with whatever we could make ourselves. No deck of cards? No problem! We made our own with scraps of paper. Sigh. How times have changed!
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When we watch old movies and saw something I had done back in those days, I made sure to point them out to my husband!
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How cool to have a week off for Chinese New Year!!!
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It’s going to be on 28th of this month. The school district I worked in before retired, is having 27th as teacher training day. They learn from the past that many students were absent on Chinese New Year or New Year’s Eve. So they now make it a student free day. Only teachers will be there!
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I’m wondering if you also had an extended school break through regular New Year’s, back then?
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I can’t remember. Chinese New Year is a bigger deal in Hong Kong. Both my mom and dad passed away on New Year’s Eve, 4 years apart, we couldn’t get death certificates until after New Year. On the first day the office was open, there was a long line waiting. I had been in US for years when they passed away. Was glad one of my sister took care of everything.
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Oh gosh, I’m sorry for the loss of your parents–and at a holiday, too. Bless your heart ❤
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We didn’t choose our birth, we don’t choose our death either. It’s all God’s mercy!!
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Yes, His mercy.
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It’s very true!
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Indeed!
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🙂 🙂
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Nice post!
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Thank you!!
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Family times are so precious…. they always stay on in memories like a bouquet of flowers and fill our lives with fragrance
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Yes, that’s right. Certain routines gave us stability. That is so important to any family to create stability at home!
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Times have changed so much especially with technology. Simple things like making games to play and using your imagination seemed to have diminished.
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Yes, kids these days miss out that part of creativity. I remember I had so much fun playing hand-made toys!
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