Brand New Year!

Hello! And if I haven't told you yet, Happy New Year!

I must say that New Year's here was very different than any I've had at home. We had a bit of a family situation here on New Year's Eve, and ended up taking care of Nat and Ian's three kidlets for the day. We spent the afternoon playing Jenga, word games and Uncle Tom's new Mario Kart on the Wii. Tom made us all chilli (we didn't eat enough of it this summer, apparently) for supper, and then the kids went round to the shop with Grandma and Granddad for ice-creams. After tea-time, we all went outside to shoot off some fireworks Rob had set up (fireman safety) in the neighbour's garden. I love the fact that fireworks are legal year round here; it makes New Year's seem more special, especially when everyone has them. We also had some paper lanterns to launch, which are really fun. They're basically a small wire frame with a square piece of waxed card that you light underneath. If you do it right, when the square is lit, it'll fill the paper lantern above with air, and it goes up like a mini-hot air balloon. They actually go quite high and far before going out, or they're supposed to anyway. The wind caused us quite a few problems during the process, as Tom had a very difficult time getting the lighter to stay lit, let alone the wax. We got a candle, and finally managed to fill the balloon a bit, but when it was released, it promptly blew into the neighbour's tree. We watched it for a few anxious seconds to make sure it didn't set the tree on fire, which understandably would be quite embarrassing for fire safety reasons. After that excitement, Nat and Ian arrived back in time to put everyone to bed, and then it was grown-up New Year's time!

We attempted to find something good to watch on TV, but the only decent program was Jools Holland's NYE music thing. There aren't any shows like New Year's Rockin' Eve with Dick Clark (Ryan Seacrest I guess), and no balls to drop, so we just enjoyed the music and waited for midnight. There was a bit of a discussion over whether we should continue watching Jools Holland at midnight, which would ensure the playing of Auld Lang Syne, or tune into the broadcast of the fireworks in London. In the end, we decided on the fireworks, which were absolutely spectacular even on TV. They went on for a full 10 minutes, in sync with music, and using both the clocktower of the Houses of Parliament (Big Ben) and the London Eye as launch sites in addition to the barges on the river. While we watched them, everyone had the obligatory glass of champagne, hugs and kisses, but then what was happening outside became more exciting.



It seemed like everyone in the neighbourhood was setting off fireworks and lanterns, which really looked quite lovely in the night sky. Everyone was out on the street to watch, and then to our surprise, massive fireworks started exploding behind us, being lit at the pub (coincidentally called The Ashley) down the road. These ones were so big and loud that they set off in what I would estimate as about a 6 block radius. We got the rest of the paper lanterns out (pack of 5), and set off three of them rather unsuccessfully, hoping they would join all the others floating away in the sky. They burned well for a while, but then tended to blow sideways slightly, and either go out, or set the paper part on fire and fall out of view like comets. I'm sure quite a few people had charred lantern remains in their gardens in the morning!

After all the hubbub had died down, I called home to say Happy New Year to everyone, and we continued to spend time with Tom's parents and Nat and Ian until about 2am, and then it was hockey time! Tom and I stayed up til 4:30 watching the Canada-US game, and after being rewarded with the patriotic satisfaction of a win, went to sleep!

New Year's Day saw another massive and delicious Sunday dinner, complete with another massive and delicious load of my mom's stuffing, on request from Thomas. Food comas ensued, and not much else happened for the rest of the day due to our slug-like behaviour. Holidays: complete!