Modern conveniences such as pre-prepared food and ease of transportation has made the traditional hustle and bustle of pre-holiday cooking obsolete. My break at work did not start until the day of New Year Eve. Today, the first day of the new year, chain stores are open already when they used to be closed for 15 days until the Lantern Festival. The smaller, family-run shops are still closed though.
I would just like to share a photo and some thoughts on the holiday! :D
My family went to KTV at night. There was a set banquet for New Years along with being able to sing KTV, like a package deal. The food was not that great - service suffers during such an easy money-making period of time. Everybody is fighting to reserve restaurant spaces that it doesn't really matter whether it is really good service or not haha!
It was a lot less work, of course, but I actually prefer the way we used to celebrate in America where we made everything by hand and the house is filled with delicious smells. We would decorate the house with lucky paper cutouts, paper lanterns, and lucky words. It really felt more festive that way!! Sort of like Thanksgiving/Christmas!
