Tet is fun

"Spring comes, peach blossoms bloom
Swinging in the sun to welcome the New Year"

Just listening to those two verses brings back the traditional Tet atmosphere. That feeling is so ethereal, hard to describe, it makes my heart flutter. Every spring, I love my homeland, my grandparents, my parents, and my relatives even more.

For me, Tet begins in the evening of the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month. That is when my mother comes home from school and is busy washing dong leaves, my grandfather is sitting splitting bamboo strips, and my grandmother is busy measuring sticky rice, preparing beans to soak, and then telling my father to wake up early tomorrow morning to buy pork belly at Mrs. Hong's clean meat shop.

And early in the morning of the twenty-seventh, before going to work, my father woke me up to help my grandmother prepare to wrap banh chung. The weather at that time was still cold from winter, some years it was freezing cold, with a little drizzle of early spring, making the cold even sweeter and more icy. Looking at my grandmother's red, wrinkled hands from washing rice, sifting beans, washing leaves, and slicing meat, I felt so sorry for her! I hurriedly helped her wipe the leaves and arrange the tray. While helping my grandmother, I heard her quizzes:

- "Green garden with green loincloth/Onions planted around, pigs released inside" what kind of cake is it?

Before I could answer, Puppy ran out of the bedroom and said cheerfully:

- I know, grandma! It's banh chung.

My grandmother smiled kindly and praised Puppy for being good, making me a little jealous. I also knew this riddle, I was about to say it. Seeing that I was not happy, she said:

- Do you have any other answers, Ngoc?

I shook my head and said:
- Puppy is right, grandma! It's banh chung. Mom and I asked this riddle to my sisters and me a few days ago.

She nodded happily and then explained to the two sisters that the ingredients to make banh chung include sticky rice, green beans, pork, seaweed leaves, and bamboo strings...

- And pepper, grandma? - I quickly added.

She smiled happily, looked at the bowl of meat and said:

- Oh right, I'm still missing some pepper. Can you go to the kitchen and get some for me?

I quickly ran to the kitchen to get pepper for my grandmother and then sat down to watch her wrap banh chung. My grandmother was very skillful. She never used a mold to wrap banh chung, and each banh chung was square and pretty. After wrapping a banh chung, she would shape the four corners to make it look nice, pat it gently to evenly cover the filling, and then tie the two together. She said banh chung was like people, they had to be in pairs to be happy.

After watching her wrap for a while, I asked her to let me try wrapping a small cake. First, I put down a string, then took two seaweed leaves and folded them face down, then folded two smaller leaves face up, then I imitated her by putting rice, beans, and meat in and wrapping it up. After a long time, I had finally finished a small banh chung, but it was not quite square. But my grandmother still praised me, and said: "When I am old and weak and can't wrap anymore, you can wrap banh chung for the whole family!"

Hearing her say that, I suddenly felt sad. I immediately said:

- You will always be healthy. Don't get old, grandma!

My grandmother smiled and said:

- Age chases away youth. Who isn't old?

- But I don't like old women!

I know, when Tet comes, spring comes, everyone wishes each other a happy new year. I used to be very happy when everyone wished me to grow up quickly. But now, I want to stay young forever so that my grandmother can stay young and healthy by my side.

After wrapping the cakes, I followed my grandmother to boil the cakes. One by one, she placed each cake in a big pot. Then she asked my grandfather to help carry the pot out to the front garden. In the middle of the garden there was an empty space, a few days ago I saw my grandmother show my father how to find bricks, arrange them into a big vegetable pot. Hearing my grandmother call the wood stove the vegetable pot, I kept laughing. Then my grandmother asked my grandfather to bring a bucket of clean water to pour into the pot, while she lit the stove. The big pieces of firewood were arranged very skillfully in the stove, she also poured a lot of rice husks into it. The stove started to glow, the crackling sound was very pleasant to the ears. My sister and I sat watching my grandmother work, both of our faces were very excited. In no time, the pot of cakes was boiling. My brother occasionally asked my grandmother:

- Grandma, is the cake done yet? When will it be done?

She smiled gently and explained:

- My cake is wrapped big and the pot is also big so it takes ten hours to cook well and the cake is soft!

I know, every year my grandmother wraps a lot of banh chung because she wants to give them to poor families in the village. Every time she gives the cakes away, she usually puts them in a very beautiful bag and lets me go with her.

Tet is fun and my whole family has Tet right from the moment we gather to wrap Chung cakes amidst the happiness of sharing with everyone.