Well, it wasn't really a battle that happened the other night on Chinese New Year's Eve. But it sure sounded like one!

Year after year, I am absolutely left speechless by the amount of fireworks the Chinese people blow up at midnight of their New Year! You open the window (if you don't mind risking getting hit by shrapnel from the apartment above you) to glance up and down the street and all you can see as far as the eye can see are fireworks exploding in every direction, and at any and every altitude.

Some make it fairly high up into the sky, others shoot off sideways and explode next to buildings, others explode right where they were left standing on sidewalks or in stairwells... and everywhere there is noise!

I guarantee you there would be no more noise in a city being bombed in the midst of war. You can hardly carry on a conversation sitting next to someone in your own house with all the doors and windows (double paned) shut.

The next morning I found my car covered with a layer of dust and shrapnel from the previous night's fun. It looked as if a volcano had erupted and left a layer of ash in its wake. Unbelievable!

And we live in a small town that is not even home to a majority of Chinese people. I can't imagine what it would be like in a crowded part of a large Chinese city.

Someone please help me to remember to have my camera and video camera ready for next year's Chinese New Year at 11:50 p.m. I don't know how, but I always end up forgetting how impressive the sights and sounds are each year.