Ambang, Ambang, Ambang, Ambang Raya!

Another four more days before we celebrate Eid Mubarak. And this is going to be my fourth Aidilfitri that I won't be around my beloved mother, father and siblings.

The thing that I'm gonna miss the most is the opportunity to kiss my parents' cheeks and to hug them passionately. This is because only on Aidilfitri (and a very, very few and rare occasions) my parents "allow" us to perform this. And only on that day as well, I will cry like a small child.

Only on Raya too, my siblings and I will have the ketupat with not one or two but four or five dishes. And my favourite, as always, will be the rendang kerang. My all time favourite! We will also have chicken rendang, beef rendang, sambal udang and if we're well-behaved on Raya eve, normally my mother will cook an extra dish, either peanut sauce or rendang peparu.

Since I was a little boy, I don't fancy fire crackers. So, I don't miss that thing definitely. Pasang pelita? Yeah... I'm so blessed to have a father who loves to light up oil lamps and put them around our house. And every three or four years, he will change with new design. And I love the one that my father made them by himself, using bamboo. That was five or six years back, when I've just started working and was a bit nervous to give out my first angpows to smaller cousins.

Instead of joining my two younger brothers go for takbir raya from house to house, I will patiently accompany two of my younger sisters changing the curtains as well as cushion cases. Go on, guess what was my role?

"Senteng tu!"
"Labuh sangat!"
"Kedut-kedutkan dia."

Because of my big mouth, I always get this from them.

"Along pandai sangat kan, nah buat!"

Oh, God... can I still have this at my aunt's house?