Family Tet photo, missing spring in the countryside...

Every year, family Tet photos may lack this person or that person, but the pot of yellow chrysanthemums and the old apricot tree are always present. Tet comes and goes, many people stand under the apricot tree to take photos, grow up, say goodbye to the big world , and then leave forever. But there are also people who just look forward to Tet so they can hurry back home...

The weather in the Central region this year has been unpredictable, with less clear distinction between the two seasons, rainy and sunny, or hot and cold, like before. The hot season lasts longer. The rainy season is no longer as heavy. Every night when Mom calls, she starts the conversation by complaining about the weather: "The weather is so strange, it rains like in Saigon, suddenly it stops." Now that December has come, Mom says the weather is getting cooler in the evenings, even though it's not that cold. Dad, according to the TV weather forecast, said it would be cold, plucked the apricot leaves, but the sun was still warm, the old apricot tree was budding, and said, "It will probably bloom before Tet."

The bright yellow apricot tree in the porch of my grandparents' house

VN

In the houses of the Central countryside, the apricot tree in front of the house blooms beautifully and golden yellow, like a symbol of vitality for the Tet season. The apricot tree has been barren all year, with only leaves and sad leaves, but after a few days of Tet, it blooms enthusiastically. Radiant! The economy has improved, the country roads have been concreted, the house has been repaired, more spacious, the gate is big and beautiful, many things have been replaced, only the apricot tree on the porch is still kept. In the days before Tet, my grandmother still follows the habit of taking out old photos to sort, both to clean them and to ask casually: "The kids said so, will they all come back? Last year's photos are still missing Son and Bao...". Having said that, adults nowadays are very thoughtful, when their children call, they say "this year is too difficult, don't come back, the train fare is so expensive" or "go on a trip, you've been through a hard year"..., there is no sad and gloomy style like the old people on... TV commercials, my grandmother watches and laughs, saying, "when were we like that?" Well, advertising! Ut Ty opened a photo shop, usually taking ID photos, making ancestral photos, taking wedding photos, and taking family photos for neighbors on Tet. Even though the shop is closed and not yet open, but when someone calls, they still bring their camera right away. At Ut Ty's shop, every Tet holiday, the shop is bustling with people coming to buy ancestral photo frames to replace old ones. During Tet, the living room and the altar must be neatly decorated. If the living room is bright to welcome people who come to wish them a happy new year, the altar must be cozy. Therefore, every year, Ut Ty's shop is busy on the days before Tet. Normally, people can neglect everything, be careless with their familiar home, with themselves, but hearing Tet is coming, they rush to decorate themselves, shake off and renew everything. No matter how traditional or modern, people need days to renew themselves to move forward, whether happy or sad, it's all a matter of the past year. In the corner of the house there is a pot of bright yellow chrysanthemums, there is a warm altar to burn incense in peace, suddenly people's hearts and minds also follow.

Someone embraces Tet as happiness, as nostalgia fills the frame tinged with time

Thai Bao

As a custom, on Tet holiday, the house is spacious, people are free, children and grandchildren, brothers and sisters reunite, so Vietnamese Tet also has the custom of taking family photos. I remember when I was a child, during Tet holiday, the neighborhood photographer was very busy. Every family wanted a souvenir photo with all members. Whoever wanted it would often come to the photographer's house to make an appointment. In the gloomy weather of the first day of the year, the children excitedly woke up early to change into new clothes, eat a bowl of vegetarian rice on the first day of the year, wait for lucky money from grandparents and parents, and even visit the graves. When returning home, the photographer arrived. The neighborhood photographer brought a mechanical camera, which gave him complete power, calling on everyone to cooperate immediately. After Tet, the photos were printed large, hung in the living room, and during the year, when guests came to visit the house, the homeowner would point to each person in the photo and introduce "this is Thao", "that is Son's wife"... Photos of family reunions during Tet holiday of city people are often taken in the living room; People in the countryside often choose in front of the door, next to the apricot tree. Just like that, they preserve traditions, preserve memories. People far away from home, young people who have been away for a year, happy with success, will happily return home to show their parents, or a year with heavy hearts due to events, they still wait for the day to return for Tet, to gather with their families, stand in line, take a reunion photo, the smile still blooms, putting everything aside, shaking off all the unhappy things. So, looking at Tet photos, only the children have wrinkled faces, crooked smiles, and crooked postures, but the adults, their eyes full of wrinkles from a hard year, their mouths still bright with eyes full of hope for the new year. Tet photos, how can you not be happy. Phones are no longer just for calling, but for making phone calls, manufacturers advertise the function of taking beautiful, high-quality photos, storing a lot, so Tet photos are taken and left there, rarely developed. In recent years, on the first days of Tet, there has been a trend of "flexing" family photos. Young people are more eager to return to their hometowns, take more pictures with their grandparents, to share on social networks with pride the image of a large, happy family. It's interesting! The old grandmother still keeps the old habit, sitting looking at the pictures, telling stories and laughing happily with the fullness and size of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The past with family photos that cannot be created by AI, not edited by apps is a mark of childhood, of love, of reunion, of Vietnamese Tet. So, someone remembers Tet when the cool, chilly days of December begin to return. Someone waits for Tet when the leaves on the old apricot tree on the porch are plucked down to wait for the day of blooming. Someone hopes that Tet is the occasion when train and bus tickets invite people far away from home to return. Someone comes back for Tet just to be hugged, loved, to relieve the heaviness of the days of wandering in the city. Someone embraces Tet as happiness, as longing, filling the frame tinged with the color of time. And Tet comes again. Family photos are filled with love and longing for those who couldn't come home this year...

Thanhnien.vn

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