On New Year's Eve, our three uncles' families, maternal aunt's family, and Grandpa and Grandma Xiao would join us to celebrate the New Year together. All in all, we made up a big group of thirty or forty people, spread across three or four tables. Preparing such a feast was no easy task!
A couple of days prior, maternal grandparents had gone back to their old home to do some cleaning, tidying up the place enough to accommodate their three sons and daughters-in-law when they returned.
Otherwise, there would be far too many people for Xiao Family house to accommodate.
Xiao Junxuan and his father offered their assistance.
After all, the end-of-the-year deep cleaning was a strenuous task, especially with some heavy lifting involved. Xiao Wanshan and his wife weren't comfortable leaving their elders to handle that.
The homes of the three uncles were small western-style buildings fashioned similar to the villas, built side by side but separated by walls.