It's the parents that cook up a storm for such dinners. Once they are all gone and given our small families we cannot or more like not motivated to keep the tradition. I keep it very simple.
Didn't visit any relatives today either. Just sent word that we won't be showing up. Yet again, I told my uncle that I would not be turning up as his place but he knows I am very friendly to him. I find it meaningless that we only meet once a year. Without my parents, it is such a painful chore. They are or more accurately most of them are almost like strangers to us. They have never been part of our social lives. Besides my late father told me to only inform them after his funeral was over. Not the best way to begin eh?
We will be meeting at my sister's place for lunch on Sunday. Had she or my brother not suggested this (my brother took the initiative last year) nothing would happen.
Does the children understand from these what to expect when their time comes? It is not something to look forward to. Their cousins are almost strangers to them. They used to play together when they were preschoolers but afterward each is busy with the demands of their own lives. When they meet this Sunday, as usual they would hardly speak to each other.
A couple of good old friends told me yesterday how they hated CNY. They shouldn't but I can also understand how they felt.
In the next generation reunion dinners will drive home the point powerfully the impact of our declining birthrates. I don't think we are prepared to do anything about it until much closer to time. Traditions would have to be adapted or reinvented because it is already too late. We will not discard our traditions. They define us.
Update: 8:25pm
This is a wonderful story but it many ways it also heralds the crescendo. This is looking back instead of looking forward. We can slow it down as much as possible, we cannot reverse the trend where opportunities for such wonderful reunions is common.
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