(dear English readers, please scroll down for translation)
在年三十晚，我和Ed回他父母家吃团圆饭。
Ed在加拿大长大，性格很洋化，农历新年没洋历新年重要。我则相反。要不是我跟他说回家吃饭很重要，他可能就免了。
他们一家从香港移民来加拿大已有三十多年。刚来时，语言不通， 生活艰苦。那时，华人很少，华人的物品当然也少。这么多年可能也没有好好庆祝过农历新年，加上这里也没有公共假期。传统要保也难。
所以，这里不讲究 – 没要把家里佈置得红东东，没要穿红的， 没什么都要新的。 当然没新年歌之类的。
Ed在美国工作近十年，从来没回加拿大过农历新年。我则刚到这里，是他家里的新宠 – 华人， 懂得读写讲中文，懂得一点点的传统。 虽然，我在澳十二年，家人一直在马。我也每年都回马过年。想起来，我可能比他们老人家还传统。
因为难得Ed和我都在多伦多，加上碰巧是周末，Ed不用上班。他俩老人家煮了一满桌的好菜，有龙虾，冬菇江鱼翅发菜，清蒸鱼，白切鸡，芥兰菜，及冬菇鸡汤。吃了一整晚。 我与他父母谈谈马来西亚华人如何过年。Ed什么也不懂，只是在吃！
我虽然想家，想念马来西亚的新年气氛 可这里也算有个丰富及像家的团圆饭。
这里的卫星电台也有播贺岁节目。
晚上，给妈妈摇了个电话。 电话线很忙，很难才打到。 马来西亚已是年初一。 没说到几句，妈听不清楚，因为一家大小已在“疯狂”地及很吵地打麻将！
放下电话，带着那一点点的新年感觉入睡．．．
On Chinese New Year (CNY) Eve, Ed and I went back to his parents’ house for dinner. Ed grew up in Canada, hence he does not quite care about the CNY. If it was not me insisting the importance of having dinner with family on CNY Eve, he might find every reason to skip it.
It is a tradition for Chinese to have dinner together the night before Lunar New Year. No matter how far you live, it is advised if is possible, to try your best to come home for this new year eve dinner. It signifies the reunion of a family and the bond as a family. It is similar to the Christmas dinner.
Ed’s family immigrated to Canada over 30 years ago. Life was extremely difficult at the beginning. I guess, for the parents, they might not have been able to celebrate CNY according to traditions for a long time. For them, there was not a choice to keep the traditions, it was only a matter of survival in this new foreign country.
For the last nearly ten years, Ed has been working abroad. I don’t think he has been back for CNY. This year, he is back and I am here. For his parents, it was something worth celebrating this year.
They have cooked plenty of traditional dishes. We enjoyed the dinner and I explained to them how Chinese celebrates CNY in Malaysia. Although, I have been living in Australia for 12 years, I went back to Malaysia for CNY every year. Though I could not be with my own family this year, I felt equally appreciative for this dinner with Ed’s family.
Missing my family and the festive atmosphere in Malaysia, I called my mother after dinner. It was already the Day One of CNY in Kuala Lumpur. We could not talked much because of the noisy background excitements of my family playing mah-jung together (which is very common in the CNY).
Putting down the phone, trying to keep the festive feelings in my heart, I went to bed….
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