A Few Days before Eid

Assalamualaikum wbt and peace be upon you,
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Hi. How are things at your place? Here in my place, everyone is starting to feel the excitement of Eidul Fitri. In my neighbourhood, people sleep late in order to prepare for the festivity and for I'tikaf at the musolla or mosque. The men spend the night praying and reciting the Quran there. The ladies would clean up their houses and become impromptu interior decorators. Some would turn into pastry chefs. For example last night, my neighbour came to our house at 11.30 pm to send food for Sahur and a little chit chat. Then my mom and lil sis went to their house at 2.30 in the morning to help them make cookies and only came home at almost 4 am. The day before yesterday, the men cooked rendang, dodol and lemang by the roadside. At 4.30 am, Akeem came to my house to send some of it. My dad came home from the musolla at 5 am to eat Sahur. Just now we saw Aunt Begum and her son busy hanging colourful lights outside her house at 12 midnight while another neighbour who has just moved in lit up fancy gasoline lamps.My parents were also invited to a neighbour's house at 11pm tonight, coz they wanted to give us some food for Sahur.I mean, all these make us feel like one big happy family.

However, some neighbours have gone back to their hometown. Like our next door neighbour and Aunt Hamidah who hail from Kelantan. Kelantan is so far away in the East Coast and to avoid the massive traffic jam, people would usually leave a good few days before Eid. However, before they leave, they would send text messages telling asking everyone for forgiveness and wishing a happy Eid and we would reply with the same plus wishing them a safe journey home. This year, we are going to celebrate Eid in our own home. We would not go back to our hometown. We have started to clean up the house and get rid of most things or plants that we don't need. Our lawn is bare except for the roses, melur, Burmese creepers and the grass. My dad recently got rid of the bamboo trees and all the potted plants have been transferred out. Our house looks so simple yet soothing to the eye, I love to just lepak outside at night nowadays.
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Unlike other households, my parents don't spend a fortune for Eid. My mom did not change the curtains, no new furniture, carpets, cars, or whatnot. We would just make sure that the house looks clean, cheerful and nice. Dad bought some cookies to serve when guests come to visit. My mom stock up on some food and that's about it. My mom said, we need to save coz if big sis goes to uni next year, she'll need a lot of money. Anyway, we have all bought our new Eid clothes, except my mom who didn't buy anything new. My dad and I bought our clothes at Uniqlo in Alamanda recently. Tomorrow my sisters want my mom to drive them to Alamanda again to get some scarves and ballet flats.
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We might go back to Muar for a couple of days however, just to celebrate with my dad's family, maybe on the second and third day of Eid. First, we would visit my ancestors' graves, then we would visit all the elderly relatives to pay our respect to them, then to all the other relatives' houses just to reconnect the ties of silaturrahim.My parents would go to the houses of my dad's parents' friends as well coz in Islam we have to do this as a way to show our love to our deceased parents. 
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The school holiday have started since Monday for two weeks, yippee. However, I'll have another trial after the school reopens and then the major PMR exam in October. Becoz of the upcoming exam, my parents said that we would just spend a couple of days in Muar, then my mom has to work on the 5th day of Syawal. So, it will be a short celebration for us this year. Anyway, we won't be able to go back to Penang to visit baby bro's grave this year, so it will definitely be sad for us.
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Well, that's basically how we prepare for the upcoming Eid. I wonder how it is in other parts of the world. I wish everyone a happy Eid and may God bless you, Ameen.
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Love and peace
Daniel Zaydi