Deepavali Weekend

Besides celebrating Raya or Aidilfitri if you will, I am lucky enough to experience two other yearly celebrations celebrated widely here in Malaysia. The first one is Chinese New Year, thanks to my hubby B, who's half Chinese. Every year, during Chinese New Year, we actually do make that trip to visit B's Chinese relatives, where we also participate in the ang pow (money in a red envelope or packet) giving custom, which usually means Mariuca is broke around this time! ;)

Yesterday was the Deepavali or Diwali celebration. Also known as the "Festival of Lights", Deepavali is celebrated by Hindus around the world, to mark the victory of good over evil. This is the second celebration I was referring to earlier, one that I've been "celebrating" since I was a little girl. And now that B is married to yours truly, he too celebrates with me and my family. Some of you might not know this but my grandmother (bless her soul) was married to my grandfather who hailed from India. So though we don't go out of our way to really celebrate this colourful occasion in its true definition, my mom still carries on the tradition of cooking a special family lunch or dinner every Deepavali.

So that's how I celebrated Deepavali yesterday, having lunch at my parents' home. This year my mom cooked tomato rice, which happens to be one of my favourite dishes from her. Everything was yummy and as I helped myself to 2nd servings, that diet I've been meaning to start became a mere distant memory on my to-do list! ;)

Though we would have much preferred our 3-day Deepavali weekend to be less hectic, there's just too many things to do now that we're married. Our weekend was quite busy with visits to the in-laws, grocery shopping, meeting friends for dinner and before we knew it, it's already Tuesday and B has to go back to work in a couple of hours. Lucky for me though, I work from home so my working hours can be pretty much be determined by my boss, which is ME of course!

So instead of waking up early to get dressed for work and braving the traffic to get to the office, I'll still be nicely snuggled up in bed. If previously, I'd be busy planning an event with the rest of my colleagues in the Corporate Communications department, today will see me enjoying a nice afternoon break while going over my schedule for the day. Instead of busy making calls discussing trade show exhibits, table covers, table top display and all that jazz in ensuring a successful event for my former employer, I'll be happily fiddling around on my laptop working on MY own stuff, at MY own pace and time and in MY home office. Oh yes, I definitely love my life as a freelance copywriter working from home! ;)

I hope it's not too late to wish all my Hindu friends here and around the globe a Happy Deepavali. And to those returning to work today, have a great day at the office! :)

Posted at 7.15 AM