What's Best in Chinese New Year?

So finally here comes to the end of celebrating Chinese New Year as I can see my Facebook wall starts to get flooded with posts about Valentine's Day. Have you ever asked yourself, how well have you gone through Chinese New Year this year? 

Are you really celebrating the Chinese New Year in a Chinese way?

#1 Did you have your Lou Sang? 

The prosperity toss, I realise, is more expensive this year. A small portion of basic salmon yee sang is already RM48 now, compared to its price at RM38 last year. But no matter how the price hikes, it never goes out of demand because of the meanings behind it. So far, I have 10 rounds of Prosperity Toss this year. Good things are expected to be more :P How about you? 

 #2 Did you visit at least a temple?

I really hope that the Year of Water Dragon would be good for me because I have been a good girl and really hardworking to visit the old temples. Without realizing, I actually spent 3 separate days in the CNY month to visit temples, hoping that God would listen to my prayers. 

#3 Did you receive an ang pow or give out any? 

When it comes to ang pow, I'd wish I can be a kid forever so that I can receive countless ang pows from every single person I know on earth. Besides, I have a weird hobby during New Year that is collecting CUTE angpow PACKETS! I bet you wouldn't know that the above picture is 2 different ang pow packets if I didn't state here.

#4 Have you prayed for more fortune?

Every year, the elder ones would say the same old phrase, "Huat Ah!". Of course, every one of us never fails to think how to earn more money this year, save more money, spend less money....and it's all about MONEY! I hope this piece of Fortune Cookie helps to bring more wealth too.

#5 Did you stay at home, preparing tonnes of food for your guests?

From left: Almond cookies, chilli tidbits, almond biscotti, seaweed cookies, love letter (Kuih Kapit), peanut cookies, crispy arrowhead chips, fried crab sticks and lastly the chocolate cornflakes cups. 

Here are all the 9 foodstuff to welcome the guests to my house, not inclusive of the famous Prawn Crackers and Chinese Dried Meats. 5 out of 9 are homemade, by the way :) 

 #6 Did you visit your relatives' and friends' houses and enjoy their offerings?

During the festive seasons, do you go around for house visitations or do you visit shopping malls more than houses? There, I spot this cute Snoopy cookie from my uncle's house, while spending a good relaxing day at his house for a small gathering. 

 #7 Did you do your gift exchange during house visits? 

Wherever we go during CNY, we'd surely bring along some Mandarin Oranges as small gifts to our friends or relatives. But for the first time, I receive 33 pieces of fresh, homemade Kuih Bahulu all the way from Malacca :)

#8 Did you give or receive any Chinese New Year card by snail mail? 

No, I'm not talking about e-cards, SMSes, Facebook wall posts or tweets. From this picture, I've received a cute greeting card from my old friend, dated 16 January but it reached my mailbox on 29 January. With a 50 cent stamp, I think I shouldn't expect a faster delivery anyway. Thank you very much to this all-time best friend because people don't send out cards via post delivery anymore but she does :)

Conclusion:

Out of the 8 questions, how many "Yes" have you answered? Now, revise the answers and share with me whether Chinese New Year brings a significant meaning to you personally :) 

Disclaimer: Pictures taken using Samsung Galaxy S Plus.