It was the night before Hari Raya and I was still labouring away with my kuih makmur. This year everything was a last minute occasion. Two days before Raya and Mom realized that she’d forgotten to order the ketupat. All through my growing up years, the ketupats were wrapped by our maid, Kak Yam, who has been living with us for more years than how old I am. But since the past 3-4 years KY has not been very well so Mom had to order from someone else. But two days to Raya no one wants to take on the job anymore, so super-maid volunteered to wrap them. And since Chik left for her kampung to visit a sick relative, Mom was in charge of the cooking for berbuka. That left me, a one woman show, to bake the remaining cookies and cakes. I could have gone out and buy cookies at the shops but these are the "tak ada tak sah" sort of cookies. So by hook or by crook, they had to be done. And Nadiah was left with Baba to babysit for two whole days. But that’s a story for another day.
The last night of berbuka, brother #1 and #2 and their families joined us. So it was a case of squeezing oneself at the dinner table. The kids were shooed away to eat at the kitchen island so that mommies and daddies can all squeezed together to have a decent meal. After isyak, it was time for firecrackers. I took Nadiah outside to join her boy cousins for the sessi mercun. But the sound was so loud that she ran away in fright. So I went back to my cookie making and left Baba to entertain her.
Mom wasn’t feeling well after all the cooking she had been doing all day and it didn’t take us much guessing to know that her blood pressure must have gone up again. So told her to go up and have a real goodnight’s sleep and leave it to KY, Chik and me to get everything ready for the next day. By the time I finished topping the chocolate cake it has gone past midnight, and there wes still so much to be done: lay out the table, line all the dishes with doilies all set for the cookies and cakes, get the plates and glasses out, get the cutleries out and make sure they were polished, rearrange the tables around the main dining table so there will be places for the buffet stuff, change all the table cloths and some other dozens little stuff that needs to be ready for tomorrow morning. It has gone 2.30 in the morning by the time I climbed up the stairs to my room.
6.30am woke up for subuh and woke Shukri up for him to get ready for the Raya prayers at the mosque. The prayers are scheduled to start at 8.30am and knowing my Dad, I knew he would want to go at least a half and hour earlier. Since Baba is the kind who spends hours and hours in the bathroom doing God knows what, so it’s 6.30am it is!!! After laying out his baju melayu, samping and songkok, I went back to sleep until it was time to help him with the samping. Only then did I took a shower and put on my new bead-less baju kurung.
After the men came home, it was time for salam-salam and minta maaf. Then me, the "cina gambaq", went to work clicking everyone’s pictures except my own. This year Mom broke the laksa tradition and made mee curry instead. So it’s eat, drink and be merry.
Around 11-ish Nadiah finally woke up and gave her a quick shower and put on her new dress that my Mom had made for her. It’s a cute pink creation that she laboured away for three days. As soon as I buttoned Nadiah up, she started to cry insisting I took the dress off. I refused and the crying went on and on. Tried distracting her and for a little while she forgot about the dress. But as soon as she saw her reflection in the mirror, the crying started agai. In the end I changed her in to her jeans and t-shirt. There goes her girlie-girlie dress for Raya.
Went to MIL’s next and had the sessi makan-makan again. This time it’s MIL’s nasi tomato although it’s actually SIL who cooked. After an hour or so BIL #3’s fiancé came over with her family. Future bride was the ayu-ayu and malu-malu, helping out in the kitchen, typical of all brides-to-be in front of future MIL. Me, the IL #1 sat at the lounge chatting with guess and goyang kaki saja. That’s the privilege of being SIL #1 and producing the first grandchild *wink*. Just kidding, actually I have 2 SILs plus BIL#2’s wife and the future bride, all crammed up in the kitchen so there’s really no need for me to menyibuk.
By the time we went home around 4pm, it has been raining really heavily and we found out that water had risen along the driveway almost to the porch area. Kids who were going from house to house asking for duit raya were splashing each other away. I noticed Nadiah had this longing look on her face and sure enough, as soon as Shukri opened the car door for her, she speeded down the driveway towards the water. There goes her new shoes all soggy and wet.
At night we went to my aunt Mak Teh’s house for nasi beriani. Again sessi melantak!!! Came home and everyone was very tired and went to bed early.
Second day of Hari Raya, all the aunts and uncles and cousins on both Mom and Dad’s side came over one after another. So it was a busy day for me, most of the time with washing and drying the dishes as Kak Yam and Chik had gone back to their respective kampungs.
Third day Raya, brother #2 called up to invite everyone over to his house. Mom wasn’t feeling very well and Shukri had gone out to a friend’s house so it was just Dad, G, Nadiah and myself. Upon arriving, we found brother’s son, Amir, crying his eyes out because his father won’t let him follow his cousins back to their house. Asked Amir if he wanted to play firecrackers with me and Nadiah. That got his eyes dry fast enough. Went out and borrowed Amir’s bicycle for Nadiah so she can ride around while we light up Amir’s firecrackers. This time there were no loud sounds from the firecrackers as Amir’s collection consists of sparklers. That got Nadiah really curious. She just sat on the bike ten feet away looking at us. After a while she got down from the bike and came closer and closer. Before long she was happily lighting away the sparkles and having a jolly good time.
All in all, Hari Raya 2006 has been a little quite. We didn’t go out and visit that much. But Raya isn’t over. It’s a month’s celebration, right!!! Come this Saturday, 4th November, we’ll be having an open house for Shukri’s colleagues. But if any of you were to be in Alor Star on that day, you’re welcome to drop by……
The last night of berbuka, brother #1 and #2 and their families joined us. So it was a case of squeezing oneself at the dinner table. The kids were shooed away to eat at the kitchen island so that mommies and daddies can all squeezed together to have a decent meal. After isyak, it was time for firecrackers. I took Nadiah outside to join her boy cousins for the sessi mercun. But the sound was so loud that she ran away in fright. So I went back to my cookie making and left Baba to entertain her.
Mom wasn’t feeling well after all the cooking she had been doing all day and it didn’t take us much guessing to know that her blood pressure must have gone up again. So told her to go up and have a real goodnight’s sleep and leave it to KY, Chik and me to get everything ready for the next day. By the time I finished topping the chocolate cake it has gone past midnight, and there wes still so much to be done: lay out the table, line all the dishes with doilies all set for the cookies and cakes, get the plates and glasses out, get the cutleries out and make sure they were polished, rearrange the tables around the main dining table so there will be places for the buffet stuff, change all the table cloths and some other dozens little stuff that needs to be ready for tomorrow morning. It has gone 2.30 in the morning by the time I climbed up the stairs to my room.
6.30am woke up for subuh and woke Shukri up for him to get ready for the Raya prayers at the mosque. The prayers are scheduled to start at 8.30am and knowing my Dad, I knew he would want to go at least a half and hour earlier. Since Baba is the kind who spends hours and hours in the bathroom doing God knows what, so it’s 6.30am it is!!! After laying out his baju melayu, samping and songkok, I went back to sleep until it was time to help him with the samping. Only then did I took a shower and put on my new bead-less baju kurung.
After the men came home, it was time for salam-salam and minta maaf. Then me, the "cina gambaq", went to work clicking everyone’s pictures except my own. This year Mom broke the laksa tradition and made mee curry instead. So it’s eat, drink and be merry.
Around 11-ish Nadiah finally woke up and gave her a quick shower and put on her new dress that my Mom had made for her. It’s a cute pink creation that she laboured away for three days. As soon as I buttoned Nadiah up, she started to cry insisting I took the dress off. I refused and the crying went on and on. Tried distracting her and for a little while she forgot about the dress. But as soon as she saw her reflection in the mirror, the crying started agai. In the end I changed her in to her jeans and t-shirt. There goes her girlie-girlie dress for Raya.
Went to MIL’s next and had the sessi makan-makan again. This time it’s MIL’s nasi tomato although it’s actually SIL who cooked. After an hour or so BIL #3’s fiancé came over with her family. Future bride was the ayu-ayu and malu-malu, helping out in the kitchen, typical of all brides-to-be in front of future MIL. Me, the IL #1 sat at the lounge chatting with guess and goyang kaki saja. That’s the privilege of being SIL #1 and producing the first grandchild *wink*. Just kidding, actually I have 2 SILs plus BIL#2’s wife and the future bride, all crammed up in the kitchen so there’s really no need for me to menyibuk.
By the time we went home around 4pm, it has been raining really heavily and we found out that water had risen along the driveway almost to the porch area. Kids who were going from house to house asking for duit raya were splashing each other away. I noticed Nadiah had this longing look on her face and sure enough, as soon as Shukri opened the car door for her, she speeded down the driveway towards the water. There goes her new shoes all soggy and wet.
At night we went to my aunt Mak Teh’s house for nasi beriani. Again sessi melantak!!! Came home and everyone was very tired and went to bed early.
Second day of Hari Raya, all the aunts and uncles and cousins on both Mom and Dad’s side came over one after another. So it was a busy day for me, most of the time with washing and drying the dishes as Kak Yam and Chik had gone back to their respective kampungs.
Third day Raya, brother #2 called up to invite everyone over to his house. Mom wasn’t feeling very well and Shukri had gone out to a friend’s house so it was just Dad, G, Nadiah and myself. Upon arriving, we found brother’s son, Amir, crying his eyes out because his father won’t let him follow his cousins back to their house. Asked Amir if he wanted to play firecrackers with me and Nadiah. That got his eyes dry fast enough. Went out and borrowed Amir’s bicycle for Nadiah so she can ride around while we light up Amir’s firecrackers. This time there were no loud sounds from the firecrackers as Amir’s collection consists of sparklers. That got Nadiah really curious. She just sat on the bike ten feet away looking at us. After a while she got down from the bike and came closer and closer. Before long she was happily lighting away the sparkles and having a jolly good time.
All in all, Hari Raya 2006 has been a little quite. We didn’t go out and visit that much. But Raya isn’t over. It’s a month’s celebration, right!!! Come this Saturday, 4th November, we’ll be having an open house for Shukri’s colleagues. But if any of you were to be in Alor Star on that day, you’re welcome to drop by……
2 comments:
Yatie,
Be thankful your darling Nadiah can fit into jeans... My darling Ainul... jgn harap jeans muat... kalau muat pun jeans budak 4 yo.... so Ainul's stuck with dresses all the way... unless raya in shorts is acceptable ehhehehe
Actually am lucky that she decided that is was ok for us to dress her up in baju kurungs for raya.... else she would running around in her Drypers much to my mother-in-laws dismay ehhehehe
thank you for sharing your Raya pictures.
Aida.
Aida,
hehehee... shall we swap then? Nadiah's dresses for Ainul's jeans??? Hmmmm tapi nanti tak muat la pulak....
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