The forgotten celebration

Gosh!!!! There's so much going on with work, Christmas and all, I've totally forgotten about one celebration which I've never missed in my entire life... The Winter Solstice Celebration (Tong Yuen). If it wasn't because of a neighbor's kind invitation, I would have missed it in a blink of an eye!

Actually, it's not a huge celebration or anything, it's just that we've never failed to gather around to roll out colorful little balls of tong yuen (glutinous rice balls) for the celebration. It's more of a family gathering, chatting, and updating each other's lives while we churn out dainty little tong yuens ready for the boiling water. All these activities would be closely monitored under the watchful eyes of my mother. Occasionally, you will hear her yelling, "Who made this gigantic ball???", or "What's with the square one???" or "Who do you think can swallow these tong yuen." Well, it's quite obvious to get "innovative" tong yuen from a family of artistic kids. It's just too bad mom wasn't too keen on them. LOL! I'm sure this yearly commotion was passed on from Great grandma's time. I can just picture her in her sarong kebaya, fussing overe the wood fire stove while yelling the same old phrases to her grandkids as what my mom did.

I guess I may have to forego making tong yuen this year. It would have been fun. But then again, with both sisters across oceans, it would be a quite celebration anyway. Growing up sure takes out a lot of the fun, doesn't it? Anyway, Happy Winter Solstice to all you readers out there!