This year's Chinese New Year was fun. I went to my Ah Gong's (Paternal Grandfather) house on the eve of Lunar New Year and on the second day of Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is one of my favourite festive seasons as it is a time for all the relatives to come back, pay respect to our ancestor and enjoy a good meal together. On the second day of Chinese New Year, each and every family members related to the Goh family arrived to my Ah Gong's house early. We offered joss sticks to our ancestor, including my beloved Ah Ma who passed away recently.

After lunch, it was our tradition to take a family picture together. We do this annually to signify the family being reunited. It was a pity not being able to have my Ah Ma with us though. As we had quite a number of family members, I could tell that my Ah Gong, being the main target of the picture was getting bored after 5 pictures were taken.

Next, we played Mahjong. There were two tables being set up. One for the "professional" (mainly for the uncles including my father), we call them professionals because they could play Mahjong from the early afternoon till the night. I strongly agree that the uncles are professionals because whenever I sit beside one of them and try to understand how they are playing it so fast, dizzy spells come over me. Another table that was set up was for the "miniature players" that had included me!

Having not been able to practise my Mahjong "skills" regularly, I lost badly to my sister and cousins. These people or as they call themselves "the pro", play Mahjong on a regular basis. So, trying to play against them was just waiting for death to come. After only a few rounds, I lost in total of $3. Being not sure of the paying rules, I am also not sure if they cheated me of my money! This looks like a lesson to be learnt. At 6 in the evening, dinner started. I only managed to have my dinner at 8pm because in my family, it is a custom to let the oldest have their dinner first, followed by the other uncles and auntie. And lastly, the grandchildren and other invited guests to have their dinner.

There was a wide spread of variety. Ranging from the usual steamboat and scrumptious Yusheng, to appetising sushi and gratifying home cooked dishes. I was glad to be in the last group to have their dinner. Because I would not have to worry about keeping some food for the next group but just savour the delightful food slowly and having most of them to myself! Now, I understand how easy I put on weight every Sunday family gathering at Ah Gong’s house.

After dinner, a couple of relatives settled for television programmes, some of us went to play captain’s ball while the obsessed Mahjong players continued with their game. The day ended at 11 p.m. when “the professionals” finally completed playing Mahjong and realised that their niece also known as my father’s daughter, Yvonne Goh was feeling tired and sleepy.

I enjoyed that day very much. Although, we still have regular family Sunday gathering and the divine food on the dining table. I still yearn for more of these occasions because there is always a different mood setting for different events. Next gathering! Here I come !