THE AIR AROUND YOU

The power of family and the special moments shared around the New Year’s table.

“Have you eaten yet?”— a simple question I hear every time I come home. It may sound ordinary, but once I began living far away, I realized it was really a quiet way of saying, “someone is thinking of you; someone is waiting for you.”

The New Year is more than just the passing of time or a holiday to come home. It’s the moment I travel back to warmth — back to the same dining table where we’ve gathered since I was a child. The house may have aged, and the table may bear new scratches, but the atmosphere remains unchanged.

On that table, there’s nothing fancy. It’s the same simple food, year after year. But as time passes, I’ve come to see that simplicity was what I had been searching for all along — the comforting scent of steaming rice and my sister’s secret curry recipe.

The sweet fragrance of tangerines, which my grandmother used to peel for me as a child, and even the soft, powdery smell of the little one running around — all of it fills the air again.

We’re not just eating; we’re laughing, listening to the same old stories retold countless times, watching Dad smile, hearing Mom reminisce about her youth, teasing and joking with siblings. It’s what makes the house still feel like home, warm and alive every time I return. New Year’s food isn’t just about eating. It’s the fleeting hours that weave love, laughter, and family together, every spoonful and every familiar scent becoming home, a place I return to and feel safe, no matter how far I’ve gone.