Happy Birthday, Da Jiu

Da Jiu is my mum's eldest brother. My maternal granddad passed away when my mum and siblings are still very very young. When my granddad passed away, Da Jiu (being the eldest) sort of took over the role of being the father figure at home and took care of the family. He stopped schooling and started working to provide for the family and help bring up my mum and siblings. As he worked to provide for the family, he did not have time for relationship and as time passed, he remains single till now.

As a close-knitted family, me and all my cousins respect him for what he had done for our parents. Most of you (my generation or not) will agree with me that we will always try to celebrate our parents birthdays as best as we could. Then one day (sometime in November 06), out of nowhere, I started to think when is Da Jiu's birthday. He is supposed to be 62 years old this year and in the chinese custom, he is 'entitled' to a '大寿' birthday celebration. A call to my mum confirmed that his birthday fell on 5 Febuary.

A total of 10 calls to all my cousins were made. I suggested a '大寿' birthday celebration for Da Jiu on 4 Febuary (it being a Sunday) which the expenses will be splitted by all 11 cousins. I was really glad that all of them gave me a 'go ahead' immediately. We decided on a buffet catering at my Er Jiu's house eventually. Coordination for all my Da Jiu's siblings were made. I am very happy that all the siblings agree to come as there are a couple of aunts that we do not meet up so regularly.

With all the coordination completed, we are left with the actual day event...

Family members start filing in at 3pm. 1-by-1 everyone came and finally the '寿星公‘ reached. The moment Da Jiu reached, I know that all the 'trouble' put into coordinating the celebration is well worth it. The smile I saw on Da Jiu's face is priceless. You can see that he was very happy that we are doing the celebration for him. He was smiling non-stop. We sang birthday songs for him. We gave him our well-wishes through our ang-pows. We sabotaged him with whip cream on his face.

It was really a joyous celebration which also indirectly gave us an opportunity to have a family gathering. Everyone has a wonderful time catching up with each other and were basically having fun. It was really a very cozy atmosphere for me personally. I dare say that this is another occasion which will leave a very memorable impression in most our hearts. : )

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