Raya shenanigans. (stress-free edition)

My extended family has been well-known for how simply they take on life.

Problem: Malas nak kemas rumah after orang datang?

Solution: Tak payah ajak orang datang.

Problem: Malas nak masak untuk Raya?

Solution: Tak payah masak, jom makan dekat rumah Abang Piky je. (my dad)

While, on the other hand, my mum is the queen of elaborateness.  Because to her, Raya is the only time she'll ever have the need to use her collection of Noritake(s) and Corelle(s) that are always just stored away in the cupboards. As a person who loves hosting too, she has always been the "rajin" one when it comes to all these gatherings. 

Fo four or five years straight, we've been hosting my parents' extended family's Raya gatherings , right here in our humble abode.  Well, I'm not gonna go on a rant here, but when you've been celebrating Raya from the kitchen sink with sleeves up to the elbow for years on end, I think I have every right to.  

Let's not start a keyboard war about the whole issue of "who washes the plates" and "who cooks" etc etc. Like, I couldn't be bothered to even complain. You wanna be a spoilt ass and think everything has to be done for you, go the f ahead.  If I was at the sink, and I said "Leave the plates alone", you leave those freaking plates alone because I don't wanna end up having to wash it another time just because your dirty ass doesn't know how to clean the oil off those dishes.  

But.......

Iman and I wanted a stress-free Eid this year. Because when you have almost 10 anak daras in the house, but only two are doing all the work, I think we at least have a right to complain.  We didn't want our sleeves to be all wet. We were sick of being laughed at for using clothes pegs to keep our clothes from getting into the sink.  We were tired of smelling like dishwashing liquid at the end of the night. So, we brought up our concerns to the big bosses. 

Problem: Malas nak cuci pinggan?

Solution: Disposable plates, cups and cutleries it is.

Problem: Malas nak buat kuih raya?

Solution: Takpe, beli je.

Problem: Malas nak buat rendang banyak-banyak?

Solution: We'll just make one small pot this year.

Problem: Malas nak masak for orang yang datang?

Solution: Catering.

It's nice to finally see my mother able to mingle with everyone instead of being back in the kitchen helping us out with all the dishes.  I guess my dad and her finally realise that it's time to slow things down, and eliminate all chaos and stress whenever possible.

Raya greetings.

Back in my high school days, I've always been known to be the one who has endless words to pour out when it comes to birthday wishes, graduation night cards, good luck banners, and festive greetings (e.g: Raya Aidilfitri, Raya Aidiladha, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, you name it).

However, it didn't take me long to jump off that bandwagon and become undeserving of being anywhere near that infamous label.  People used to look forward to what I had to say about them when their birthdays came around.  People hoped and waited for their birthdays solely to receive a long-ass handwritten card by me (Well, perhaps not solely, but meh.)

So, all the throwbacks aside, I just realised that Ramadhan flew off in a blink, and here's Eid rolling around the corner like it's no big deal.  Like, hello, my body's not ready for you yet, Syawal.  But that's the reality of time nowadays, I guess.

But back to my point, just to show how exponentially bad I became at Raya greetings (or even just replying back) :

Not only did I ignore his Raya wish, I had to be honest about it too. *smacks forehead*

But hey, I made up for it the following year!

Made sure that I was the first one this time around.

Just goes to show how much things could change in a year.  Looking forward to many more Raya(s) with this one, and the rest of my loved ones.  

Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir & Batin.

xo.