Simple happiness is to spend time with our family every day to share our problems with our family members, enjoy happy reunion dinner with our family and parents after a long time away from home. However, not everyone can enjoy this happiness for many reasons.

For Mrs. Phuoc Ly’s family, happiness in lunar new year is that the whole family always holds hands together to share the joys and sorrows of life.

After she has gone through a lot of ups and downs in her life, Mrs. Le Phuoc Ly, a resident of Hai Chau District, finds herself happy with the simple things in daily life. For her, simple joys in her life is to see her family's seafood restaurant to be crowded with customers, and her husband who were left paralyzed after a road traffic accident 7 years ago, to be healthy and safe.

Mrs. Ly said that she and her husband, Mr. Van Thanh, have been married for 10 years and have two children. Mr. Thanh got wheelchair-bound after a traffic accident. From then on, Mrs. Ly was left alone to take care of her family’s business, do household chores, care for her children, and among others. Many times, Ms. Ly wished she had 'three heads and six arms' to take care of everything. However, despite all the worries and challenges that life brings, Ly and her husband still feel lucky and happy every day as their family always sticks together and their family members love each other.

For them, they find happiness in spending time with their family, as well as gathering to talk and eat together after a long tiring day.

Talking about lunar new year wishes for her family, Mrs. Ly said that her greatest happiness is to see her husband recovering from his traffic accident, and her family to have good health.

"In the first days of the lunar new year, I like to receive best wishes and good luck messages from everyone. I think that happiness in my life and my family will attract positive energy," Ms. Ly happily said. .

As for Mr. Nguyen Ba Dat, a resident of  Quang Tri Province, a bank employee in Da Nang, his happiness in Lunar New Year (Tet) is the moments he spends with his family. After more than 15 years of studying and working away from home, Mr. Dat has returned home to celebrate Tet with his family every year.

Dat only finds joy in returning home to celebrate Tet with his parents who are looking forward to their faraway children coming back home as the hustle and bustle of life causes people to spend less time with their parents.

Mr. Dat calculated that if he only returns home for 7 days to celebrate Tet, he will spend 10 hours a day with his parents, and spend only 1,400 hours with them, equivalent to nearly 60 days, within 20 years.

"Thinking about it, I feel sad. For me, no matter where I go or what I do, I want to return home to celebrate Tet with my family. Tet is memorable moment I spend time with my family and parents. I find joy in my life’s simple moments when I spend time with my family members. If your patents are alive, you should be thankful that you still have time to love them, to hold their hand, to pour out your heart to and to be with them. For me, my parents is not a burden to me but I find joy in making them happy," Mr. Dat remarked.

However, not everyone can return home to celebrate Tet with their families. Many people who work far from home cannot reunite with their families during the Tet Festival for many reasons.

Twenty-two year- old Nguyen Viet Nhuan, a resident of the northern province of Hai Duong, is currently working at a barber shop in Da Nang is among these people. His family faces financial difficulties as his aging parents have no money. Therefore, his family’s economic burden falls on the young man. Nhuan decided not to return home for Tet but stayed in Da Nang to work, hoping to earn extra money to help his parents. Despite not being able to enjoy the reunion moments with his family duringTet, Nhuan still feels happy as his efforts partly help his parents ease the cost of living burden for them.

Reporting by NGAN HA – Translating by H.L