Wednesday, August 27, 2008

One Is Lonely, Two is Just Nice, Three is too Many...

MOON CAKE FESTIVAL is around the corner and my kids don't have any excitement as I had when I was at their age. Maybe I didnt instill the significance in them when they were younger, all we did was buying and eating the moon cakes then. No lanterns or playing of candles in the garden as I did during my younger days. Even the lanterns of today are battery operated, plastic type unlike my days, it was all colourful transparent paper made into shapes of all kinds of animals.

Talking about this brings back old memories... I was brought up in a town house where we have balconies at the top portion. Those days parents in the 1950 and 60s have at least 6-10 children... (how scary) So imagine my neighbours' children left and right side, there would be around 18 of us more or less and we would be playing together, displaying our colourful lanterns at our balconies or at times we played along our five foot way in front of our houses. Never did it crossed our minds that we would be robbed or harmed or kidnapped during that time. It was just so peaceful and wonderful then.....

When I told my love ones about the fun I had those days, they couldnt imagine how it was... they don't have the scenerio of how and what our kind of fun we had then.... I can't blame them... Nowadays, most families in residential houses keep within themselves... safety and taking precautions against society come first....

Life is definitely not the same, the 60s, 80s and now 2000s... During the 60s, one couple at least have 6-8 or 10 children, very common sight.... during the 80s, dwindled to 3 kids, more than that, you will hear "wah, so many ah"..... and now in the new millenium year, some are opting for either 1 or 2 kids, some might want to adopt only and there are some who just wouldn't want to get married or all.....

Which one is you? :)

20 comments:

  1. Yeah, I also experienced those days. I love holding up the 'tanglung' (lantern) made with glossy thin plastic and lit it up with a candle. They comes with all kind of forms, usually animals, vehicles and etc. The autumn festival is always a pleasant time during my childhood. I especially likes to lit up a long line of candles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. yeah..remember we played on the balcony? and sometimes we went to the pavement there .. like playing house.. haha.. the kids next door, i wonder what have become of them already... i wonder whether they still keep the memories too ..

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree, families now opt for max 2 kids only. Remember CNY in the 80's in Ipoh we use to throw the fireworks facing other people which goes "pheee...and then Bang". Those good old days.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Reanaclaire, enjoyed read your memories.
    I certainly agree with you how things, lifestyles changed so much...
    kids today glued to their computers, hardly outside fishing or playing games.
    Here kids putting on so much weight from fast food too.
    My time we had to invent our own entertainment too but had loads of fun.

    And yes, I have not seen kids walking around with lanterns a long time too even when back in Malaysia.
    Today when I tell friends children about old days, they will exclaim, "are you kidding, uncle"? Ha ha.

    I am very glad I brought all my old, faded diaries and note books of years gone by so can revive my memories thru my postings.
    Almost destroyed them prior migrating too.

    You have a great week and enjoy the mooncakes, keep well, Lee.

    ReplyDelete
  5. those are the golden years..thinking back, how innocent we were even at our teenage years compared to my teenage kids... yes, U.Lee, my kids also said that.. they tot i m joking with them when i told them about our games of yesteryears..
    and Cy, the fire crackers were popular then cos no ban .. the boys like to disturb the girls when they were walking past them...when they scream, the boys would laugh..haha

    ReplyDelete
  6. i'm the one, youngest of 5 siblings.. lai lui lai sum korn.. and I'm also the one, burning the candle wax on the lipas.. *evil evil grin*

    ReplyDelete
  7. helo claire...hey it is not easy for me to get the opps :) usually the opps here come out here at about 9-11am and about 4-8pm here in the USA. i don't get some when i wake up so late :( like today, there are lots of opps..all are taken. i am refreshing (F5)the PPP screen once in a while hoping to get those in white or yellow color.

    ReplyDelete
  8. eh...i didn't played with you lah. It's with the kids of my generation. haha...

    ReplyDelete
  9. wei..hello..almost sama umur la.. where got much difference between us? or perhaps when we were playing lanterns, u were there disturbing and blowing out our candles and getting smacked by us.. haha...

    ReplyDelete
  10. where got sama umur? I was just a pre-school kid when you guys in secondary school.
    ah...that I agreed, i love to disturb you guys then...*grin*

    ReplyDelete
  11. Even the moon cake and tanglung now had "evolved" compare to those old days.

    I didn't carry tanglung anymore but still enjoy looking at kids carrying them around on that night

    ReplyDelete
  12. Over here now in my residential area, no more such thing, the old town house is as worse, deserted, no more kids, like no more humans too loitering around.. i really miss the old days..everyone was so carefree with their surrounding then, not fearful of what we r facing now. i wonder how my kids' generations will be next time but then, treasure the present now, the future can tske care of itself..

    ReplyDelete
  13. i noticed also, for myself, as i grew older the excitement of lantern festival fades away...
    plus, nowadays it's not safe to go out at nights anymore... sad =(

    but i still love playing with candles & lights tho' =P

    i'm the 'want to have 3 kids and maybe adopt also if got $$' but at the same time 'enjoying life too much to want to be tied down by kids'. So, dunno what I'll be, hehehe. Hopefully can be good mother and wife, then doesnt matter how many kids =)

    ReplyDelete
  14. ei! sali mo ko dun sa not wanting to get married at all. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. i love children just that it is too costly nowadays..

    i have two, mom had two of us, and my sis has two also. guess we are the 'stop at twos' family.

    have an award for you here
    http://mamakshop.com/2008/08/another-award/

    ReplyDelete
  16. i hope there are some of you here who made our own tanglung...with milo n milk cans...during those days.
    i made 2 during weekend n we had some fun...though the youngsters hv different interests, they do enjoy antiques...
    tongts

    ReplyDelete
  17. I live in one of those "kampong". I had a lot of fun playing with neighbor children on the street. Last time there was no traffic like now and very safe.

    ReplyDelete
  18. yes, actually I miss the safety feeling... it was so different then.. i remember we dont have to fear when we opened the doors to play our games with the neighbours even at night.. our parents would be outside chatting with the elders and we kids would be playing all sorts of self invented games..

    ReplyDelete
  19. i only started to appreciate this festival in uni. where there were plays and going around playing lanterns... haha. and now i do visit chinatown (singapore) as it is quite beautifully lit up :)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you, readers!

Lunar New Year 2024 Before And After

TODAY IS THE SIXTH DAY OF LUNAR NEW YEAR.... And this is the day when I am now free to blog a few lines to activate back my blog after a lon...