Wow! Can you believe it?! Ramadan and 'Eid have both come and gone!

Insha'Allah everyone had an awesome Ramadan and 'Eid... myself... well, I really shouldn't complain, but I'm in a whiny sort of mood. This Ramadan was, for me, just not very... Ramadan-y. I was stuck in the house most of the time, and even when I went to the Masjid for Taraweeh on the weekends it wasn't that great 'cuz most of the people I don't know, and anyway my friends are in a totally different city, and that just totally sucks.

'Eid, too, was sort of disappointing. When we were still living in my old city, 'Eid day was a big rush. My parents hated it, but I loved the excitement. The night before 'Eid my mum would be frantically cooking up a storm of last minute things, while also answering the phone every 5 minutes to recieve 'Eid greetings from all the people we know, AND running around trying to make sure she hadn't forgotten to pack anything. She'd send my brothers and I off to bed early, but we'd never sleep 'till after midnight, so in the meantime we'd jump on the beds and have a huge pillow fight and sing anasheed on the top of our lungs and then fall back onto the beds wheezing with laughter.

'Eid morning we'd be woken up early. We'd pray Fajr, then run around getting ready, putting on our brand-new 'Eid clothes and trying to get a bite to eat and, in my father's case, wandering around the house going over his 'Eid khutbah and getting in my mother's way, before we were all bundled into the van and zooming off to 'Eid salaah.
Our Islamic centre held 'Eid salaah at whichever hall was available to rent on 'Eid day, since we didn't have a masjid of our own.
Anyhow, when we got there we split up, my mum and I heading over to the women's section while my father and brothers made their way to the men. As soon as we entered the women's section, we were mobbed by all the people we knew, and only just escaped getting hugged and squeezed to death. Eventually we managed to extricate ourselves, relatively unscathed, and found ourselves a spot to sit down... my mum with her best friends, me with mine.
As soon as the Imam uttered the Takbeer to begin salaah, there was a moment of madness when all the people tried to straighten themselves into some semblence of straight rows, and of course the confusion over whose sujaddah was whose. However, things always ended up all right, al-Hamdulillaah.

After salaah my father would give the 'Eid khutbah, and people would sit and listen and nod their heads in agreement, and whenever he cracked a joke half the congregation would bite their tongues trying not to burst into laughter (the converts and youth) and the other half of the congregation would look totally clueless (the first generation immigrants and the Arabs here to study).
And then after the khutbah we'd be in a rush again, my friends and I trying to swap last-minute 'Eid gifts, my mum bidding everyone farewell, and then our family would be running back to the van so that we could go home and load our suitcases into the van and then rush off to catch the ferry to the city where my grandparents live.Once we reached the island we'd go to my granduncle's place (a farm, actually, although currently they have no animals and are instead trying to manage the wilderness that is their backyard), which is where we go every 'Eid 'cuz it's the only place big enough to accomadate all of our family. That's where we'd spend the whole afternoon and evening, eating yummy food and even yummier desserts and just hanging out... usually us kids would get bored after a couple hours, but we'd find something to occupy us.

So yeah, those were our 'old' 'Eids.This 'Eid was totally dull by comparison. No night-before-'Eid madness, no 'Eid-day-craziness... it was... boring, really.

At 'Eid salaah, there were only a fraction of the number of people we used to get at my old city, there was exactly one girl who I could call my friend, and even the other women I know, we just don't share that amazing bond of almost mother-daughter closeness that I have with my mum's friends. I couldn't hear the khutbah because of the children running around screaming. After salaah we went back home, picked everyone else up, then went to my granduncle's place... it was nice, I guess, being with family and all, but it was, I dunno, it felt less special than it usually does. The only thing that sucked was that my mum and I had to stay in hijaab alllll day 'cuz there were non-Mahrams there (family friends), and unfortunately my extended family doesn't really practice segregation of the genders amongst non-Mahrams. I mean, we're all usually in separate rooms, but people will wander in and out...

One of the highlights of the day was our 'Eid loot collection (lol :P). We got money from most people, although I also got 2 lovely blouses and a necklace from my aunt, and my dad's cousin (my second cousin) got me one of those awesome Air Hogs toy planes, which I used to keep myself occupied when I got bored. Let me tell you, it is HARD to run in a skirt and abaayah on bumpy ground. It's even harder wading through grasses and thorns in said abaayah and skirt to rescue the crashed toy plane.
Several members of my extended family were shocked that I actually liked the toy plane, which I think is silly... no, wait, not really. Since we've been living in a different city these last few years, they don't really know me, and that I'm somewhat of a tomboy (or in my grandma's words: bloody tomboy! She means it in the best way possible, though... :P). I always find it funny - upon first meeting me, people think that I'm a quiet sort of girl, the type of girl the older, traditional people are happy with. I look the part, actually, so it's hard to blame them... But then they all get shocked when they discover I'm not like that at all! Their reaction is pretty funny when they find out that I have opinions on political issues (usually differing with their own) and don't like cooking (they look horrified at that - how will I ever find a good South African Indian husband? Little do they know that I have NO intention of marrying one of my cousins or whoever it is they're planning to match me up with).

Anyhow... yeah, that was this year's 'Eid. Quiet, boring... nice, but lacking excitement. Ah, well. Al-Hamdulillaah for what I have, and what I got.

So, what was YOUR 'Eid like?