From across the continent

These are my 2 brothers and brother in law showing off a very huge firecracker (most likely fake) and posing for me! They had high hopes i'm sure but my skills can only do so much for this image! With that said, the sentiments connected with this photo puts it on top of my greatest hits list!

My siblings and their families always get together with my mom to celebrate the first day of the new year every single year since about 10 years ago or so. The house would usually be in chaos on this day what with 11 kids running around and the grown up kids making their own kind of chaos. The day would start with cooking then everyone would sit down for the meal then gift giving (late Christmas pressies for those who didn't show up on my Mom's doorstep for Christmas) then games for both the young and old!

I've missed this celebration for the last 3 years that i've decided to stay in Au instead of going home during the holidays. I came up with this idea that instead of going home for the hols, i'll celebrate NYE in a different city each year. 2011-2012 was Brisbane's turn which is also whereI live atm so it was convenient to skype home and join in on the celebration! Hahaha. What fun! What chaos! The chaos was amplified because I could hear probably 15 voices all vying for air space even if I couldn't see them all! Lol!

It's funny that those same voices that used to give me a headache everytime it got to be too much ( used to take 15 min breaks from these events just to find a bit of peace and quiet!) sounded heavenly this time. I almost got lulled into sleep by it when they started playing Taboo. From across the continent I got to spend this beautiful day with everyone back home. I guess I really have much to thank the advances in technology for coz without it, i'd probably be lost, in more ways than one!!!

What a strange and wonderful world we live in now.