HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

It is Christmas today. Merry Christmas to all, if it means anything to you. Except for being a public holiday, it really does not hold much meaning for me. I cannot really feel the peace and goodwill and what have you that appears to permeate everyone during this day, no matter their religious beliefs and races. I think it has something to do with being in a tropical country. I think it would be easy to feel Christmasy and all those things if I could snuggle by a fire with a hot drink and goodies, with whirling dervishes of snow outside.

The papers are full of anecdoctal articles about what people doing with their families on this day of day, and this brings back the fact that the SB will not be home for the coming Lunar New Year. Japan must be the one Asian country to follow the Gregorian calendar where New Year is concerned. This means something to me. That period is my period for family togetheredness and stuff like that. This is also the first time in my whole life that I will not have SB for the Lunar New Year (except for the two years before she was born).

The parents are considering flying to Tokyo to spend the Lunar New Year with SB, and take a tour of Tokyo and maybe make a short trip to Korea. I am still thinking. Flying to Tokyo for the weekend is not exactly how I would like to spend Chinese New Year, not to mention that I would probably start work tired out after the spree. I can't stay longer than that, not after months of medical absences. Sisterly love calls, but I think I would reserve that for another time.

At least I would not need to spend this coming Lunar New Year with my maternal extended family in Malaysia, like we do every year. Dad is also greatly relieved - a four hour drive in the heat is not exactly fun. Extended families are no fun for an unmarried thirty plus year old woman. And there will be no need to bear with people who still like to take potshots at Singapore, all the while muttering asides of what I think of their country that civility would not allow me to say to their faces.

So, it seems that I will be home for the holidays this coming year. Not a bad thing, really, not a bad thing at all.