Sunday, January 04, 2009

THE HOLIDAYS AND MERRIMENT

Hmm, so another year rolls in. I'm still recovering from December, I didn't even take notice of 2009, much less paid any attention to it. We're not big on new year' celebration, I didn't have much time to pause and reflect on 2008, and I think I'll get down to my resolution by February. That is when I usually resolve each year. Yeah, right.

Anyway, surprise surprise Nunu's napping at around 1 just now, which is really bizarre coz she never does that. Yesterday she spent an entire day at daycare without napping and still refused to sleep until midnight. Hmm, I guess she's still tired from yesterday so that's why she's napping now. Oh look at me, what am I doing. She's sleeping NOW and I'm still complaining! Move on, will ya?

Back to the main topic of this post, much of the craziness brought by December correlates with the long holidays, family gatherings, makan-makan sessions, wedding invitations and kenduris, year end and back to school sales, etc. Throw in some last minute plans and impromptu vacations and you're in for a head spinning ride.

After 2 days of skipping work last Monday and Tuesday (to pay our last respects to our deceased relatives), I only had 1 day to settle some stuff before the Xmas holidays starts. Some of our partners are having a loooong holiday due to the economic slow down. That same evening, Martian called and decided that we're spending the night at a hotel in Penang. I wasn't surprised coz his favourite uncle from KL who rushed to balik kampung for the funeral was staying at the same hotel with his family. So obviously the main reason for this getaway was to chill with his uncle.

It was such a short notice plan, but I didn't complain. As long as we're spending time as a family, that's good enough for me. So I rushed home around 4, packed in 5 minutes, out of the door by 5pm and swung by Nunu's new daycare nearby to fetch her. We were stuck in the Xmas eve jam on the Penang bridge and only arrived at Equatorial around 7.30.

We got a room right next to Pak Teh Kawi's room, and the kids had fun running in and out of each other's room. Before we head out for dinner, we stumbled upon Santa and a few Santarinas who gave out candies. We spent a nice alfresco dinner at a famous cluster of food stalls in Penang which I believe called Taman Broom. The was a small playground at the place, so Nunu insisted that we go there, not knowing the badly lit place was swarming with itchy ants (semut gatal). So I spent a horrible time scratching and consoling Nunu while trying to put whatever morsels of food I can get into my mouth.

The next day, Nunu and I had some fun at the kiddy pool. Too bad Nunu's little uncle Sher couldn't join us coz his mother forgot to pack his swimming trunks. We checked out around noon, and made a stop at Mak Cik's place to meet up with our relatives from JB. Mak Cik is Martian's aunty who just lost his husband to heart failure so we all went to see how she was holding up.

It was here that I witnessed with my own eyes how some kids can be so mean and so innocent at the same time. Nunu's second cousins from JB was excited to get to know her and play with her, but Nunu wasn't in the mood (sleepy perhaps) and acted kinda sticky to me, so the kids decided to gang up on us and bullied Nunu till she cried, in my presence! As I was carrying her! The nerve of the kids. Of course, I didn't scold them at all as I was trying my best to be diplomatic and fended off the kids without raising my voice. In the end, Nunu was terrified of them and became more reclusive for the entire day. Gawd. Kesian anak aku.

Some pics of our short getaway can be viewed here.


Business resumed as usual the next day, until I was bombed with another surprise later that evening. Martian and his brothers' plan to hold a barbecue at OUR place (which I thought tak jadi coz nobody could confirm earlier) was actually going on as planned, on Saturday night! Fulamak, fast fast I dropped by Tesco Extra Sjaya and bought all the necessities. I spent the night cleaning chicken and other preps till 3 am. I smelt like chicken fat and onions for days afterwards.

I worked like a crazed Indon maid the next morning midafternoon (woke up late mah), cleaning the house (must be presentable mah, in laws were coming). I didn't worry much about the menu coz it was potluck/bbq party, the men were going to handle the bbq, the others were bringing fish & seafood, sausages and food of their own choice. So I just prepared lasagna and pasta bake. Bought a baguette the previous night so I made some garlic bread with some canned mushroom soup.

So we had close to 30 people that night in our home and we had an enjoyable time pigging out the excellent spread. My Mom made some 'bengkang', K.Zila brought yummy tiramisu with delectable cream cheese topping, and my eldest brother in law and his wife took the trouble to bring more fish and sotong, fruits and salad. We had so much leftovers and I was gladly to 'keep' them in my spacious & empty fridge. I didn't have any photos during the bbq, only the aftermath of it, including evidence of the 'destruction' of my Nunu's playroom.


Lucky me, BIL brought his bibik and she helped me clear the dishes, what a god-sent she was! Even so there was still much cleaning up to be done, which took us 3 days coz we were drop dead exhausted.

Sunday noon, I accompanied Mom to a kenduri and later that evening we were stuck in the jam at the ferry jetty, konon we were going to the pesta with all Martian's suku sakat but the place was so darn crowded, there was no way we could get in, so we changed plans and headed to Gurney Drive instead.

Then, we made a rash decision. As we were passing Burmah Road, we decided to spend the night in Penang (coz eldest and youngest BIL and family were staying at different hotels for the night) so we literally swung by the 1926 Heritage Hotel and booked us a room! How very spontaneous of us, hor? Plus we got an awesome rate using Martian's govt servant discount! We checked in with the clothes on our backs and luckily I brought Nunu's overnight bag and for some weird reason, before heading out of the house, I grabbed our toiletries bag! and stuffed it in the car! Hah!



We all met up at Gurney Plaza, which was fun makan-makan but faham-faham je lah, how Nunu was with the weekend crowd and noise and all. Exhausting. Kena dukung jer all the time. And she made us really bengang coz while we were waiting in the car for Martian to pay for the parking, Nunu took some coins and put it in the CD player! Jahanam benda alah tu! My fault actually for not strapping her to her seat and let her roam free in the car. Meleleh my ear wax kena lecture. Sigh, fortunately the CD player is covered for warranty, so I hope we can make the claim.

To add more 'excitement' to the night, we were dragged to Feringghi Night Market for a shopping spree although it was drizzling. It was a designer bags galore for us ladies, and the men, ehem, they carried our babies and paid for our stuff. Lucky us, hor? Kesian all the mat-mat bangla kena buli by us. Nak tutup kedai pun we all tak kasi although it was nearing 1 am.

The next day, Nunu and I went for a quick dip in the pool before checking out at 12. Then we swung by Berjaya Hotel where eldest BIL & family were staying. While waiting for them to check out, Nunu and her cousins had a great time at a charity wishing well and learnt some physics at work.


After they've checked out, we made a brave entry to the heart of Penang, the jam-packed Georgetown to go to this restaurant.


Nope, my mistake, it's an institution by it's own right. None of Martian's family members would go to Penang and come back without first eat a meal of Hameediyah's famous 'briyani tanam', deep fried chicken, korma and other dishes. The place was madness, it was a confusing mixed aroma of spices and mamak sweat, and not to mention, full to the brim. A funny incident occured. I booked a place at the first floor of the restaurant, a brand new floor just two shoplots away from the original restaurant, which was not as packed. As my SIL, her daughters, her Bibik and I (with Nunu of coz) sat down, our eyes were stung by onion vapours! We didn't know where it came from, must have wafted from the kitchen, but we were rubbing our teary eyes off and laughing uncomfortably.


Despite the onion tears, we moved to the upper floor of the old shoplot and had a fantastic lunch. Well, almost for me, coz how fantastic could it be with a wriggly toddler on your lap who kept spilling drinks and doing other toddler antics? After lunch, I wanna call it quits to Penang and just wanna head home. It was the heat and the claustrophobic atmosphere of Penang at that time that just zapped my energy, but we weren't done yet! We were dragged on foot to the famous Chowrasta Bazaar where SIL still had to do some back to school shopping for her kids. We didn't buy anything there except for cheap panties for Nunu.

At this stage, my jelly legs and achy arms couldn't tahan anymore, so what did I do? Carry Nunu on my back all the way back to our cars that was parked almost two blocks away, Oshin style! If only I had Nunu's stroller at the time, which would be useless anyway coz the pavement was bumpy. Maybe I should consider 'wearing' Nunu again after so long. Both Nunu and I conked out in the car, and Martian would have conked out too if he didn't have to drive.

After the penang trip, you would think we head straight back home, right? Wrong! We dropped by MIL's place and loafed around. Aiyah, still Nunu and I couldn't get a proper rest coz it was crowded there too! We only got home around midnight to a home that was still in a mess from Saturday's party.

Gosh, what a long and wordy post, but I'm not done complaining yet! So OK, I had to work for the two days before the new year's holiday and you think I had plenty of time to relax and recover from the holidays, right? Wrong! I had a long day work on the 30th which ended at midnight, and there were still tonnes of chores to do at home, including re-tidying the place after tidying it up coz that sweet girl of mine leaves a trail of destruction everywhere she goes!

On new year's day, I invited Zara to my house for cupcakes and tea but I was so occupied by earlier events and she had to come by earlier than the arranged time, so the house was in a great mess and my cupcakes had no frosting. And she hated the couscous that I made for lunch! Boo hoo hoo! Well, she didn't say she hated it, but she said she couldn't eat it or she'd throw up. How embarrassing! But she did taste my stir fry teriyaki and ate a few vanilla cupcakes.

After the disastrous visit to my house, we decided to look for some tudungs and stuff at Kompleks Dato' Kailan, although I felt like I was going to pass out already from the exhaustion. Again, the place was packed with shoppers looking for bargain school stuff and to top if off, it rained! :((

So there. That's the end of my long rant, biasalah, 'delayed telecast' kan. It was very different this year, I've never felt this weary and spent, while at the same time, I've never felt this fulfilled and blessed before. I'm surrounded by a great family and friends, we're blessed with good fortune and abundant food, and things weren't easy (and not necessarily done my way), but that's what make holidays and the merriment especially unforgettable.

6 comments:

Nina @ BabyBoon said...

delayed telecast or not, at least the effort is there, kan! happy new year to u and your family :)

p/s: dah recover frm kepenatan or not? i not yet also.. :(

J.A.D said...

mak ai... after reading your post, i pun rasa nak pengsan and lie down and sleep... tu baru baca, i cannot imagine the exhaustion that you actually feel girl... :)

tapi best kan? meriah je suasana.

Siti Blogger said...

Kah kah kah...dah complain panjang2, then end it with a paragraph of gratification...SWEET!

Eh, that happened to us too. Our dvd player in the car won't work so we sent for repair. Later the guy called and said cannot fix already sebab konon dah short-circuit or something like that sbb there was a coin inside. Anak2 aku la tu!

Btw, happy new year and happy working on those resolutions!

anishussein said...

Tu dia.. Jalan sakan tuh...
Have you recovered..? I'm going to Penang this weekend. Got wedding reception at RECSAM. Any suggestion where to stay? Hubby needs internet cuz he'll be on standby mode for work.

Anonymous said...

a well deserved jalan2, i say ;)
and you're right, penat ka..lepak ka..blakang cerita..
janji, get to spend some quality time with our family.

p/s : i love the pic of u three kat bilik hotel tu :)

nuhaafnan said...

babybooned, for us women ah, there's no such thing as holidays, vacations hor. Dah dasar takleh dok diam. Like they say, we need a holiday to recover from a holiday

jo, you're right, penat tapi meriah :)

nin, despite all hardship, that's what matters most. alamak, they've found a coin inside so no warranty issit? GULP! i think i fished out the coin oredy ah, but if there's more inside then die laa

anis, alamak, you're coming to penang this weekend, but im going to kl! isk, if not sure can meet up. but i suggest you stay at equatorial. got wifi & the atmosphere, very relaxing. your kids will enjoy the kiddy pool.

zalin, it was a well deserved one, thnks for pointing that one out. dah berapa tahun tak berjalan2 camni. oh that pic of us? haha mcm dlm gua kelam tu eh?!

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