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Double happiness
UNLIKE previous years when she would return to her hometown in Johor Bahru on the second day of Chinese New Year, Shenzhen- based celebrity Florence Tan has to give the family reunion a miss this year. This is because her twin daughters Viola and Novea, whom she delivered in Hong Kong last September, are too young to travel long distances. Tan, 31, was the female champion and winner of the Most Photogenic title in Singapore's Star Search 1997. She married a Taiwanese businessman in 2006 after a six-month romance. The family will be taking a twohour flight to Taipei instead for the Chinese New Year, she says. "Although I'm always telling my daughters - even when they were in the womb - that they must enjoy travelling like I do, I am worried they may cry on the plane and disturb others because they are still so young at four months old." She has been spending the past two years shuttling between China and Singapore for her filming. Tan, who has five siblings, says her close-knit family has visited her in Shenzhen on separate occasions over the past few months. Her mother also flew in to help her during the confinement month. Tan's siblings are full of praises
for the cherubic twins, who have
inherited their mother's big eyes
and photogenic genes, they say. While Tan has been described as slightly plump in the past, the one-time slimming centre spokesman has shed her baby fat and postpartum bumps when she was interviewed two months after delivery. The dedicated mum carries her daughters' photos, breastfeeding pumps and milk bottles in a Burberry bag. If there is fatigue, she is not showing any signs of it. "Motherhood has changed my life," she says. "I used to be able to sleep eight to 10 hours. "But now, I wake up every few hours to breastfeed my daughters. They are so cute, like puppies. "They grow up so fast - they surprise me every day. One day it could be a smile, another day, something else." She says this year is especially sweet because it is her first time celebrating Chinese New Year as a mother. "The attention will definitely be on the babies, and I hope they enjoy it. "And this will also be the first year I can get hongbao back," she says in jest. As it will be cold in Taipei during the festival, she looks forward to dolling up her daughters in winter garb. "It should be quite fun to celebrate Chinese New Year in winter... I have been surfing the Net to find new clothing for my girls," says Tan, who has taken to online shopping since she moved to Shenzhen. She also relishes the reunion dinner with her in-laws. "Like Chinese everywhere, the Chinese New Year is an opportunity for family members to gather. "In Taiwan, they will stack five Mandarin oranges as a pyramid for 15 days to signify da ji da li (good luck and great prosperity). They will also eat more lavishly, with expensive food like abalone and seafood on the dining table. "In Malaysia, we tend to have more home-cooked dishes." This article was first published in The Sunday Times on Jan 11, 2009. |
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