I did it again! For the 12th year in a row, I'm able to publish 50 blog posts per year in a row :D
Blogging is easy, anybody can do it, but posting 50+ blog posts, that too with enough content and not just single pic memes, for more than 10 years continuously is quite an arduous task. And the only thing that keeps me consistent is because of you, my dear readers, so a big THANK YOU to you all.
What makes my 50th blog post of the year really special is because it's about a recent Family Reunion we just had.
In our Mizo society, "Inpui" is the main house where our grandparents live/lived, where all the children grew up before moving out and starting their own family. Usually the youngest son of the family gets to inherit the house, though there had been aberrations now and then.
From my mother's side of the family, our inpui is located at Chanmari. Our group of cousins decided to organize a family get-together one last time before the inpui is demolished as my uncle is planning to renovate the whole building.
And so on December 27th, we had a grand family reunion :)
All of us had so many memories of our inpui. Though most of us were brought up at our individual houses, we spent all important family functions at our inpui, especially when grandpa and grandma were still alive.
My cousins and I talked about those days all of us who got good results on our exams would run to our inpui to show our report cards to grandpa, who would then reward us with 1 or 2 sweets! :D
That day, all my uncles and aunts arrived one by one.
The program, called "hunserh" started at 2 PM. Most of us arrived in time. The little nieces and nephews played different musical instruments as we sang gospel songs.
Family members sitting around the room.
Cute baby Diya.
Uncle Dr. Malsawma gave a small speech.
Uncle Nghinglova, who's looking after our inpui, said a few words as well.
Aunty Zothanmawii, the eldest of mom's siblings imparted some wisdom to the youth.
After the short ceremony, it was photo session time :)
First up were mom's siblings and their spouses.
This was followed by "everybody" group photo.
After that, we had individual family photo sessions, where every household took a photo with their respective generation. We photographers had a lot of fun.
By the way, many members of different households couldn't make it (some already had important plans while others didn't come home to Mizoram). But we threw up a pretty decent attendance.
Aunt Zo's family.
Uncle Malsawma's family.
Our family.
Uncle Nghinglova's family.
Aunt Buki's family.
Uncle Siama's family. Only cousin Sangliana and his daughter could make it, but it felt great to have at least one representative from their family attending.
Aunt Zohmingliani's family. Only cuz Hriatpuia could make it but it was good nonetheless.
After that, all those from our Chaltlang family colony (four families living right next to each other) took one group photo together.
This was followed by a group photo of those of us living outside Mizoram who came home just to spend Christmas with our families.
And finally, the "real cousins". No spouses or kids, just us cousins alone, the way we used to be many years ago.
Hehe yeah we had so much fun :D
We all stood according to our age in descending order.
After that it was random photo session time.
We caught up with each other and talked and joked as we waited for our dinner to arrive.
Back when we were kids, there used to be a large hole around the tap, and we used to use it as our swimming pool!
Cousin Atea and his wife's family wardrobe! With 3 kids of their own, I think this is a brilliant idea.
Sun was about to set. A beautiful view from their terrace.
Aaaand the sun was gone…
Cousin Tetei's husband u Robert Lutmang arranging the chairs and tables for dinner. According to our Mizo society, that's what "makpa" were supposed to do, being useful at such family gatherings :)
Soon, our food arrived.
Unlike earlier days when we all used to cook our own food, these days we just order from a catering service. Yes, cooking together bonds the family closer but then we didn't have time (and frankly speaking, energy) to do all that. Plus they make such good food, especially Mizo dishes.
The caterer we hired was Fefe Catering, and they charged 250 bucks per head. We were around 50, so that was a pretty sweet deal.
The food included three types of non-veg dishes and five veg dishes, along with four types of bai/bawl. It was Heavenly!
Chow time.
Aunty Zo and uncle Hmingtea ate upstairs as they found it difficult walking down the stairs.
Soon it was my turn to hog! :)
My plate.
Behind-The-Scenes of the food pics that I frequently upload on my WhatsApp story - cousin Dingkima helping me out with the prop while I get a good angle from my phone camera, lolz.
Me second helping, lolz. The food was too good!
Baby Hannah too was having the time of her life :D
My little nephews and niece Omoma, Tluangtluanga and Abigail doing a "cheers" with the lemon juice, that was so cute :D
While we were busy feeding our mouths, some of us like my cousin Lalnui were busy feeding their kids.
Once everybody was done with food and the caterers left, uncle Malsawma had a special screening for everybody!
Using a laptop and projector, he showcased a list of really old family photos, most of them when we were just kids (and some of us weren't even born yet). We had so much fun laughing at the old pics.
We ended the night with a bonfire at the lawn upstairs, and finally we all headed back to our respective houses.
That was truly a memorable family reunion, and is well worth being the last post and my 50th for this year.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year, and hopefully, we'll see another batch of entertaining 50 blog posts in 2018. Cheers everyone. Am heading out to my cousin's place now. Until next time.
