Yes, yes, yes! Finally, I am back to where I belonged. At home in Kuala Lumpur. I’ll still be busy with family matters though… at least until 20th February 2010, so please excuse me if I don’t to visit your blog and leave my footsteps there. I’m still struggling to get back to my routine.

It’s been a hell of a week, and I’m thanking God for sending me His angels to protect me all the way when I was away from the safety of my home.

There is not much fun things to tell about my experience during Chinese New Year. More or less, it is just the same, and it is something that I just endure for the sake of peace. And I did not do anything special besides stuff my face with food and rot in the room.

You see… I’ve always resent Chinese New Year, because it is no fun. Yes, no fun at all cuz I don’t really like to mingle with people whom I don’t know well and not really fond of. I bet the feelings is mutual. They don’t like me, and I don’t like them. And the fact will remain the same til the end of time. Truthfully, I don’t hate Chinese New Year that much. It is the bad company that makes me annoyed with the entire thing.

Anyway, if you are expecting me to put up the food that I had for reunion dinner, I’m sorry. There won’t be any. Why? Firstly, because I did not bother snapping those photos up when I was in my MIL’s house.

Blogger or not… I don’t think I can be bothered snapping photos up when everyone is more than eager to make acquaintance with the food and get it over with more than anything else. Besides, I didn’t think the old lady would approve me snapping pictures, anyway. I would know if she approved of it, cuz my elder brother in law, who loves snapping up pictures during dinner or family occasion, didn’t even take out his handphone to capture the moment.

Second reason is  that I wasn’t in the mood to really snap pictures during the reunion dinner as I was reprimanded by my husband for not helping to bring food out from the kitchen. Well, excuse me… it’s not that I didn’t want to help out, but I was chased out of the kitchen by my MIL. She told me not to stay inside the kitchen and so, whether I like it or not, I had to get out of the damned place.

Probably she knew that I’ll be reprimanded and chided by my hubby for not helping, I suppose. Anyway, seeing what happened in the kitchen, my sister in law told me to go out and help her to take care of her two boys. And I did just that, and went out to play with the kids, earning some nasty glare of disapproval from him for not helping out despite my attempt to tell him that I was kicked out of the kitchen and was told by my sister in law to stay outside and take care of the kids. I wasn’t sure why my husband did not know that I was chased out, cuz as far as I’m concern, he was around the vicinity of the kitchen.

I got fed up, cuz I kinda expected this sort of mood killing thing to happen and I silently pray to God that I’ll be given the patience to deal with the erupting volcano within.

Reunion dinner became an event that is not fun, and not relaxing. I had to be mindful of what I do. I was tired from the long journey and my mood and appetite was definitely killed. I wanted to eat faster, and I had to ‘zonk’ out, ignoring every nagging, uneasiness and whatnots at the table.

I was praying hard that it’ll be over soon, and nothing would go wrong at the table again, or I’ll probably explode later on, and neighbours would have some nice show to watch, cuz there was no curtain installed in husband’s room in his hometown. Don’t ask me why there’s no curtain. I don’t know.

Thank God for my elder brother in law, though. He made the reunion dinner tolerable for me. He made small talks and happy conversation that momentarily made me forget about the uneasiness moments before, and keep putting some food that he thinks that I might like into my plate.

My spirit was lifted a bit, and I started to chat with brother in law and took some food for him in return, and for the first time during dinner at MIL’s place, I felt that someone is actually doing something to keep the situation under control instead of allowing the whole event turning into a full scale fault-finding scenario. In some ways, I felt that my brother in law was there in my FIL ‘s place to keep things from going out of hand.

My FIL wasn’t there, because he’s no longer living with my MIL, and I am looking forward to the reunion dinner that he hosted, cuz it’s always fun and more relaxing in comparison to MIL’s. Maybe it is just me… but it doesn’t matter where or when, I still remain a daddy’s girl, so I tend to be fond of the elder male in the family, especially my FIL.

When I spend time with my FIL, I feel that I’ve been spending time with my own father, simply because he make conversation with me instead of finding faults, and therefore, make me feel at ease spending time with him. Anyway, for what it’s worth, I am pretty easy to pleased. As long as I’m fed with desserts like ice cream or food for carnivore, my heart is theirs. And my FIL did just that. 😀

Anyway, back to the dinner. Thank God there was no extended drama after the dinner. I finished my food first and took my plate in the kitchen to wash it. My sister in law probably knew that I wasn’t amused with the earlier incident where I was reprimanded by my husband for not helping out in the kitchen, so when I was washing my plate, she piled up the dirty plates for me to wash and chatted with me while I do the chores, and soon after I’ve done the dishes, I was rewarded with dessert by my brother in law. 😀 He proffered me a bowl of longan dessert and I quietly and happily drank it away soon after while my husband chatted with his mother at the living room.

When everything was cleared from the table and dishes were done, I chatted with my sister in law and brother in law, and as usual, like the years before, they will take their leave to spend overnight at sister in law’s parents’ house until their holiday is over, and after they left, my husband claimed fatigue and we dashed upstairs to rest until morning.Yep, people… curfew. From 8.30 til 11.00am the next day.

I used to wonder why my brother in law never overnighted in his own mother’s house, but I no longer wonder why, because I know that sometimes, one had to so in order to stop war from erupting and ruin the good relationship that one had with the elders. Sometimes, it is not easy to live under one roof with others, especially when one practiced different style of living. It is harder still when the elders wants things to be done their way and reprimanded us each time they opened their mouth to speak when we’re already adults and have family of our own. You see…things like this… ruin our respect and good relationship that we have with the elders. So it is better to avoid such things.

I did not understand back then, but I now see my brother in law as a smart man, who knows how to keep peace, and I have a lot to learn from him, and people who have a family of their own, should learn from my brother in law on how to protect their own family and keep peace with each others;which is avoid, avoid and avoid the elders and not courting problems by trying too hard to please them with what you do. Extreme, yes, but it works.

Cleffairy: Thank you God, for gracing me with the presence of Your angels to comfort me and when I was disheartened.