Being able to celebrate Tet with my parents is still the happiest thing.

I was born and raised in a village in the North, but when I grew up I “moved south” and settled down in Ho Chi Minh City. My parents are old but still in good health, they are still living with my eldest brother in their hometown. My brother’s family is a farmer, so the economy is tight, lacking all year round because the source of income only depends on potatoes, rice, corn, vegetables… grown on a few acres of cooperative land, while having to raise several children to go to school. My small family in Ho Chi Minh City only has enough to live frugally, not much to spare…

However, for many years now, every time Tet comes, my wife, children and I still try to arrange to return to our hometown to reunite and celebrate Tet with our parents and siblings, because our hometown is always a "sweet star fruit" in my heart, when the imprint of memories and countless memories of a childhood are still intact and can never fade. I still remember, about ten years ago, when preparing to go to the South to work, I promised my parents: "No matter where I settle down, every year at the end of the year I will return to my hometown to celebrate Tet with my parents and siblings..." And I still keep that promise from those old days, without missing a single Tet. Even during the two Tet holidays during the Covid-19 pandemic, I thought I would not be able to celebrate Tet with my parents, but luckily I was still able to return to my hometown to reunite and gather with my family to celebrate Tet.

As mentioned, my brother’s family is very poor, so every year, no matter how hard they try, they can only afford a simple Tet. The ancestral altar is simply decorated with a few dishes, along with banh chung, xoi gac (sticky rice with gac fruit)… There are only a few candies, cakes, jams, and watermelon seeds, but the atmosphere during Tet in my family is always bustling with laughter and happy voices. The happiest are my children, my brother and sister’s children, when they keep calling and acting spoiled with their grandparents. There are also times when they argue with each other, causing my parents to have to be the ones to judge right and wrong…

This year, the epidemic has temporarily subsided, so at the end of the 11th lunar month, I went to Saigon Station to buy train tickets for the whole family to return to the North early on December 20, which means there are still 10 days before Tet. The reason my small family returned to their hometown to celebrate Tet earlier than usual this year is because this spring my mother celebrated her 80th birthday, so my brother and sister-in-law asked my husband and I to bring the children back early to help with some tasks to avoid the rush, such as wrapping banh chung, cooking braised pork, making spring rolls, making pickles, braising fish... so that the whole family can celebrate Tet and prepare for my mother's birthday on the 4th day of Tet. Tet Quy Mao 2023 is considered the biggest and most lavish Tet for my family compared to previous Tets, because my brother said that this year is to celebrate my mother's birthday, so no matter what, we have to try to take care of everything more fully.

It is true that no matter how poor the family is, the feast is simple and has few dishes, but every time Spring comes, being able to return to my hometown to celebrate Tet with my parents is still the happiest and most enjoyable thing for me. In the future, when my parents are gone, I will definitely be very sad every Tet, I will no longer have the feeling of excitement to return to my hometown to celebrate Tet... And even if I return to celebrate Tet with my brothers, sisters, and grandchildren, with a full tray of food, no matter how grand the feast is, the absence of my parents will always be a sadness, an emptiness that nothing can fill...

That is why I always hope and pray for my parents to live healthy and long lives with their children and grandchildren, so that every Spring I can always return home to reunite and celebrate Tet with my parents. That is an indescribable joy that cannot be compared to anything else…

DANG DUC