The Fireworks

Last night was seriously not as noisy as I expected it to be. Then again, I didn't stay awake until midnight to hear the firework finale like everyone else did. One and a half hours - 10:30pm - that's how close I was to midnight. However, I could not and did not want to stay awake that long, and neither did Emma. A victory over fireworks for Emma, may I say. The past couple years, the fireworks kept her up all night and all early morning, but this year, that was not the outcome. She, as I did, slept right through the chaos. Baba and Jenna went out at midnight to see the finale at the top of our apartment building. At first, Emma and I were planning to join them, but, like I said, I realized the time I would have to stay up, and denied. 

Happily, we discovered that fireworks did not phase James and Nathaniel. For them, it was like the previous nights with them - James wouldn't leave Jen alone and Nathaniel wanted to be held. Matthew wasn't bawling the way he did last year, but he was scared. We had squishy grey earplugs for him, but he repeatedly took them out, so that solution was out. I wasn't awake for this, but Mom said that he was especially frightened during the grand celebration at midnight. He didn't wear the earplugs, but he did squeeze them so tight that they mushed together and became on single, big noise-muffler that I misinterpreted as a weird Mento when I first saw them on Mom's nightstand this morning.

This morning, I looked out the window and saw... nothing. All the smoke from fireworks, fog, and maybe some Xi'an pollution had filled the atmosphere overnight, so you couldn't see past them courtyard below. It actually looked super, I don't know, pretty (is that a weird term to use?). It was a mixture of pretty and thin with thick and ugly. A little counteracting, but, hey, that's what I thought. However, like our two-inch snow, that beautiful ugliness vanished by the afternoon, save for a thick layer far off, shrouding the buildings off our apartment complex. Then again, Xi'an's always like that - it's nothing extraordinary. 

As I was not in the midst of the fireworks or awake long enough to hear the most clamorous of the show, I do not feel qualified to relate to you the situation as it had been. Baba [Rick], however, does have first-hand experience. Hopefully he'll be able to reveal the situation to you. :)

~ Abby 

This video shows a little of what it looks like at midnight on Chinese New Year. We were on top of our building - the 19th floor - trying to film this. The quality isn't the best, but you should get the idea. Also, a couple pictures to see how close we were and where we could buy fireworks. ~ Rick

Sorry about the length, but no matter how hard I [Abby, who was editing the video] tried, I couldn't shorten how long this video was. It's 18-something minutes - sorry. If you have the time, watch the whole thing. If you don't have the time or don't want to (which is understandable), 14:57 is a good spot to start from. 

THE SITUATION OF THE LINDNERS DURING THE FIREWORKS
Rick was awake watching them.
Cheryl was comforting a freaked-out Matthew.
Jenna was with Rick.
Emma was asleep/in bed.
Abby was definitely asleep.
Matthew was scared (wish I could find a better word).
James was asleep/awake but quiet in bed.
Nathaniel was asleep.
Brodie (poodle)... I really don't know.