plus and minus

i am not a good cook whether of special culinary dishes or cookies etc etc...
but i can clean dishes well... haha
you can count on me but of course the dishwasher will put me out of job instantly!!!!
well i did a lot of that recently during cny at my in-laws place
actually i did it happily glad that my role is an important one though at many homes a maid does it!
about a week's break spending time with the larger extended family
happy to see the kids and their cousins spend good time together
it was a bit different this year too
the teens got back to their old pastime of playing board games
thank God for the Saidina (local version of Monopoly), Uno attack and the Arne game cards!!!
No computer games, PS etc and no tv programmes to glue everyone's eyes to the boxes!!!
It was good to see them interacting, having clean fun, teasing one another with intermittent peals of laughter
It seems like a RE - bonding.... like those days before computer games and mp3, handphones came in to distract
the adults were also given the opportunity to join in! ladies only loh
wish the men can let their hair down and join in the fun with the young generation
of course phor phor (grandma) couldnt participate bec of language
but i believe behind the smile on her lips she is also happy to see her grandchildren having a good time together
this is the plus point from the cny time together
the minus point came in the form of some kind of sad feeling when you realised from hearing the conversations which seemed to send signals not too pleasant to receive
i am talking about an over-emphasis or special attention given to specific individuals which basically boils down to favoritism
from the name or names which kept coming up and incessantly being mentioned you felt as though ... hey what about us???? what about others????
well everyone has his or her weakness or fault or in this case an unhealthy habit of favouring some persons right in the open in the midst of the rest of equally legitimate relations
but habits really do die hard esp in old folks
but dont they learn that words heard can hurt and affect the young's self esteem in ways that you cannot imagine?????
maybe they are not aware of the possible detrimental consequence or not made aware of it...
well who dares??
so i can only attempt to do the damage repair and let God do the actual healing and assurance that You, my children are all special,
You are of worth,
You are God's "fathomed in the womb",
You are favoured by God
and most importantly
God treats each one of You PRECIOUS regardless of what the world or persons may say or favour!
and of course i have to forgive the person as God has forgiven me.....

quieter but pleasant note???

this cny break is a first of all sorts
it is the first 'celebrated' without the presence of the gel factor ie my mum
last cny no do cos she passed away barely few mths then
i am glad we siblings did meet up except for 3 families who didnt make it
it was on a quieter note... i have no complaints
conversation n communication n catching up occurring in pockets
somehow cny festive atmosphere with loud music, tv programmes,and too much focus on food.........
tend to suppress the opportunities for much needed meaningful communication
after all many families don't get to meet as frequent as they would have liked to
so it will be these moments of meeting together during cny
for some it may be days, for others it may be a day and even others it may be just for a few hours
that we catch up on how we are keeping
i am pleased we cut down cooking to a minimum
it was a sort of pot blessed so as not to burden the host family with too much cooking n washing.
on the whole it was a pleasant trip for the reunion on the 2nd day of cny
the family-together bond is still there even as we gather without the presence of mum n dad
and i pray we will not forget to come together for the years to come
and may the ambience each time be conducive for what is needful...
communication and bonding....on a different level now????