<h3>My Hari Raya Celebrations</h3>

Sorry this comes a lil' belated. As you know, my office was closed for the whole week prior to hari raya. My plans to actually extend my Raya wishes on the PC @ home was mere wishful thinking considering I hardly had any free time. So even though this wish is very belated, it comes straight from the bottom of my heart......

In the spirit of Aidil Fitri, to all my blogger friends & visitors, I extend my sincere apologies to one and all for any misdeeds, mistakes & if any feelings were hurt or inadvertently angered by the words on this blog or by my comments in any of your tag/shout boxes. May this Aidilfitri bring with it the best for you and your family and may Allah s.w.t bestow his blessings to us all. Amin.

I had a blast of a Raya this year. I was super-excited, considering this was the first time The Don and I will be celebrating Hari Raya as husband & wife. Add to that the excitement of celebrating in our own home. My mom offered to cook for me for Hari Raya seeing she was gonna cook the same dishes at my sister's place but I declined. So on the night before raya, I cooked lodeh, sambal tumis udang and my mom brought back some satay gravy she cooked at my sister's. We bought some ketupat and lontong & serunding. Now it really feels like raya.

We have all seen it before whether on tv or between our own parents etc etc, the wife on her knees, crying, asking for pardon for all her wrongdoings while the husband takes on a superior tone and bestows his forgiveness while superficially asks for same. I have to admit that was what I kinda expected although perhaps a toned-down version.

In the morning of Aidilfitri, after coming home from Ba'alwie Mosque for Aidilfitri prayers, I was fully prepared, full speech and all, and even before I opened my mouth, my tears were already streaming down my cheeks. After all in nearly one year of marriage I knew there have been numerous times I have been less than a perfect wife. What I totally didn't expect was a totally reciprocal response from The Don. (minus the tears & knees bit) Unlike the scenes of yesteryears between my mom and dad and aunts and uncles and those I see on TV, he actually reciprocated my asking for forgiveness and actually meant every word of it. He recounted the times he had inadvertently hurt my feelings expressed his syukur for having me in his life and even thanked me for being there for him 24/7. For a minute I was quite speechless. But of course, being married entitles you to more than just words to express your feelings so that settles it. At that poignant moment, there was nothing sweeter for me than being married to him. I am grateful to Allah s.w.t for all the blessings that have been showered to me and for bringing him into my life.

After our "wajib" (essential) first day visiting of in-laws, grandmohers and grandmother-in-laws, we fetched my mom and zoomed off to Temerloh, Pahang.
The celebrations in Singapore seems quite sedated compared to the celebration there. The day before Aidilfitri, most houses would already be busy preparing lemang, rendang & dodol. All the houses will be surrounded by pelita that looks simply amazing at night. Probably the origin of lampu lap-lips. In the morning of Aidilfitri, the men will recite marhaban from house to house from the mosque in Kampung Tekal (which is a family wakaf mosque by the way) all the way to my granduncle's house in Bukit Seden.
Lemang Rendang

The morning of 2nd raya is spent at the family burial grounds, where close to 30 families will congregate to recite tahlil and yasin as rememberance to our elders who have passed on before us. And invitations for open house abound everywhere in Temerloh. So basically the whole weekend we were there was spent eating eating and more eating. I won't be surprised if the negligable weight The Don and I lost during Ramadhan has been gained in double dose.

We heaved a sigh of relief that we have completed the visiting on the Pahang side of the family. Now on to more visiting in Singapore..........