Cakes and jams are bustling.

The last afternoons of the year are always the busiest. If you don't believe me, just stop by the grocery stores and see.

Cakes and candies were displayed all over the shop's porch. Candies and sweets were packed in large cardboard boxes, with all kinds for customers to choose from. There were domestic candies and imported candies. In addition to candies and sweets, there were also dried fruits and high-quality nuts. The prices were clearly marked on each item, so customers could look at them freely and buy them within their budget. They had already wrapped them up, beautifully and conveniently, without having to waste time buying them and then not knowing how to arrange them. Nowadays, everything was available, the important thing was whether you had money or not. Just go to the shop, choose what you liked, and bring it home to decorate the altar. Fast, neat, and fast. And beautiful. How could I wrap it as beautifully as someone else's? Even the votive paper for offerings, the seller also sat down and carefully folded it to make it look beautiful, like lotus flowers, phoenix tails... just choose whatever you like to decorate the altar without having to waste time thinking about how to arrange it beautifully. So now, the process of cleaning and decorating the altar is much simpler than before. Busy, no problem, just spend a day cleaning the house, then run to the store at night, choose something you like, bring it home and put it on the altar. When Tet is near, buy a fruit plate and a vase of flowers and it will be enough. Women can breathe a sigh of relief, luckily there are stores, otherwise they would be exhausted!

Cakes and jams - traditional food during Tet holiday. Illustration photo.

Therefore, every afternoon, the shop is crowded with customers. Some people choose cakes and candies, some choose baskets, and the elderly women carefully choose altar cloths. Oh, it's Tet, so we have to change the cloth to make it bright and clean to welcome our ancestors home for Tet. Then we have to polish the incense burners to make them shine. Whether the altar is luxurious or not depends on the bronze incense burner. Not every family has this item on the altar. It's like a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation. It's valuable because of that, not how much it costs.

I like to wander around the streets on the last afternoons of the year just to breathe in the bustling atmosphere, just to feast my eyes on the colorful gift wrapping paper. It’s not easy to find these things on normal days. And it’s only bustling for a few days, not for a long time, about a week. So I take the opportunity to wander around and watch and listen to my heart’s content. It’s not that I have nothing to do, it’s just that I like to remember special scenes so that when I’m old, I can look back and say to myself: Ah, back then, Tet was like this, like this…

Maybe it's because I'm an introvert, so I often remember the old days. This habit has its good points. Really, when I compare the Tet holiday when I was a kid, I see the huge difference. Back then, cakes and candies weren't displayed everywhere, with all kinds and colors like now. There were only a few types of hard candies (which kids now refuse to take), then some homemade coconut jam, pumpkin jam, some donuts, and self-popping sandwiches. That's it. That's it. That's enough, but if you're poor, even that much isn't enough. Just like that, kids look forward to Tet all year long, especially at the end of the year like this, they have no mood to study, they can't even get their words down, they only meet to talk about Tet, which cakes and candies are delicious, how much lucky money they got, what they'll buy after Tet, and whether Mom has bought new clothes (even though the new clothes are school uniforms, they have new clothes to wear for Tet and for school). It's even more bustling than adults. Nowadays, children still look forward to Tet, but not because they can eat candy or wear new clothes, but because they can take a day off from school, go on trips, and receive lots of lucky money...

So, remembering the old Tet, comparing it with the current Tet, I see how different it is, then suddenly I am startled that time has passed so quickly. Now I tell my children about it, they still can't imagine it. So I just like to wander around and watch Tet come, who knows, maybe in a few decades when I'm old, there won't be Tet anymore, or if there is Tet, people will just go on vacations and not bother to set up offerings. Each era is different, so what remains in memory is something beautiful and precious. Remember to know how to love the years that have passed. Remember to remind yourself to always cherish every moment in life, there it is and then it's gone, what has passed can never be returned. So you have to cherish the present moments you have. It seems so normal, but when it's gone, you want to go back, but you can't.

So at the end of every year, I wander around the streets to see cakes and candies. Just to see, then to inhale the scent of Tet. These days the streets are the most brilliant, the most colorful. And the scent of cakes and candies, oh my, it has been as fragrant since I was a child until now, still intact...

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