I’m not gonna get all philosophical and deep, Raya have never really had that effect on me. This year is a little different since I am back for good, I’ve gotten over my jet lag and I’ve got no place to rush to when it ends. So I’ve been doing a little pondering, if I could choose something, what would be the best thing about Eid?

The best thing about Eid..

…is when the delicious kuih raya that your mum have always, and I mean ALWAYS buy from is no longer in business. So you wait till it’s a little later in Ramadan before you accept the fact that the stall will never re-open. I know you’re going, what’s so great about not having your favorite kuih raya stall open? The fact that you will have to find a new kuih raya stall, that’s what’s so great! You get to eat EXTRA kuih raya because your mum will be going to places, taking down recommendations and coming back with bags of different types of kuihs. Nothing is awesome-er than having cases of sweet, sweet pastries. So, no, its not about the pastries itself, its about discovering amazing new pastries you never knew existed. It’s about moving on to something better, taking the chance to try something you’d never try before because you didn’t think anything was better than what you already had. It’s about getting yourself up and trying to find a replacement to move on. It’s about coping and living without(<— I really am just talking about pastries). It’s about… for the love of pastries, I can go on forever but something happened tonight..

Here I am, set and stone about what I think is the best thing about Eid this year before I met my little cousins who came over for dinner. Not having met me for so long, they were shy at first before I sat down with them and asked them their names (I really did forget their names btw). Before night fall, they wouldn’t leave me alone. Asking me if I had fireworks, wanting to play with my blackberry, touching and combing my hair telling me to do one of those hair ads they saw on tv, touching everything and asking me what it was, pulled me to go outside and play on the swing… It has been a while since I had to deal with little kids, so I was a little overwhelmed. But what made my day was when my six year old cousin told me to sit down and said, “kak lina, I wanna show you something”, and he started to sing “everyday I’m shuffling” and started doing crazy stuff with his feet. OH MY GOD IT WAS SO ADORABLE I DECIDED THAT THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE BEST THING ABOUT EID.

Selamat Hari Raya, folks!