Sunday, March 04, 2007
One Big Happy Family
As of today, Chinese New Year is officially over (in my previous post, I was only referring to the holidays).
It's during times like these that you take the time to meet your extended family, times of which includes wedding dinners (especially prevalent among the Chinese community).
It's during times like these that you take the time to meet your extended family, times of which includes wedding dinners (especially prevalent among the Chinese community).
Some of the people who attended one of these weddings.And since I meet some parts of the family only once a year, there have been several occasions where I bump into relatives I never knew existed, especially those who are only weeks or months old. Whenever that happens, I get reminded just how massive my extended family is. It is in no way as large as certain Indian/Pakistani tribal families in which people marry their aunts, but by Malaysian standards, I believe it's big enough.
Let's cut to the chase and run the numbers, shall we? I have three uncles and five aunts, with a total of 20 children between them, as well as eight grandchildren I call my distant nieces and nephews. So you can imagine how fun it is at Chinese New Year gatherings, with all of us packed into one place trying not to finish all the ba gua (rou gan in Mandarin, jerky in English) before the celebrations are over.
Oh yeah, that's only my dad's side of the family. My mom has five brothers and six sisters, and they were quite a productive bunch; I have 32 cousins on my mom's side. And these 32 waste no time in getting married and making babies, either (two of my cousins even tied the knot at 20); 19 children between them, to be exact.
Add that all together and I have a grand total of 52 cousins and 27 nieces and nephews(!).
Let's cut to the chase and run the numbers, shall we? I have three uncles and five aunts, with a total of 20 children between them, as well as eight grandchildren I call my distant nieces and nephews. So you can imagine how fun it is at Chinese New Year gatherings, with all of us packed into one place trying not to finish all the ba gua (rou gan in Mandarin, jerky in English) before the celebrations are over.
Oh yeah, that's only my dad's side of the family. My mom has five brothers and six sisters, and they were quite a productive bunch; I have 32 cousins on my mom's side. And these 32 waste no time in getting married and making babies, either (two of my cousins even tied the knot at 20); 19 children between them, to be exact.
Add that all together and I have a grand total of 52 cousins and 27 nieces and nephews(!).
The most efficient family size is still four or five, I believe.And how the heck did a family manage to get this big, you might ask. Well, picture this: Your wife is pregnant at the same time your daughter is. That's what happened in my mom's family; she was the youngest daughter (but not the youngest child), and she was born the same year her eldest sister gave birth, too. Isn't that the slightest bit weird, or what?
Oh wait, I forgot to mention that my grandma on my mom's side is the third of three wives.
And the crowd goes wild!
As a result, each year, there are about two or three weddings to attend, and two or three new babies popping out, too, but it's usually more. A really big and happy family, huh? Share the joy and all that jazz, huh? It doesn't help too that both sides of my family are made up of loudmouths, so gatherings are always noisy as hell. Which is a good thing, really.
Oh wait, I forgot to mention that my grandma on my mom's side is the third of three wives.
And the crowd goes wild!
As a result, each year, there are about two or three weddings to attend, and two or three new babies popping out, too, but it's usually more. A really big and happy family, huh? Share the joy and all that jazz, huh? It doesn't help too that both sides of my family are made up of loudmouths, so gatherings are always noisy as hell. Which is a good thing, really.
I must have been really emotional about something.I can't remember what it was.
That probably also explains why I sometimes just can't seem to shut up. To my defense, I now get to blame it on my genes, so if any of you have a problem with my piehole, I can accuse you of making fun of my family.
However, one downside of having such a huge extended (Chinese) family is that the monetary spoils from my ang pow collection activities usually sucks in comparison to what most of my friends get. Sometimes up to ten times suckier. Sensibly, the more people you have to give ang pows to, the less money you'll put in one of them. In effect, the funds get too diluted. Hopefully, the belief that luck comes in each of those little red packets holds true, or else my entire childhood has been cheated of so much extra pocket money that could've been.
But since I'm not that much of a superstitious fellow, I'm pretty much sulking already. To those of you out there with ginormous families, I think you understand how I feel.
And to the rest of you people, may your families not be as dysfunctional as ours. But if it is, you can do anything about it, can you? Heh.
PS: I'm not kidding.
However, one downside of having such a huge extended (Chinese) family is that the monetary spoils from my ang pow collection activities usually sucks in comparison to what most of my friends get. Sometimes up to ten times suckier. Sensibly, the more people you have to give ang pows to, the less money you'll put in one of them. In effect, the funds get too diluted. Hopefully, the belief that luck comes in each of those little red packets holds true, or else my entire childhood has been cheated of so much extra pocket money that could've been.
But since I'm not that much of a superstitious fellow, I'm pretty much sulking already. To those of you out there with ginormous families, I think you understand how I feel.
And to the rest of you people, may your families not be as dysfunctional as ours. But if it is, you can do anything about it, can you? Heh.
PS: I'm not kidding.
