[Photos taken 31 December 2022 – 01 January 2023, posted online 3 August 2023. The weather is possibly changing… it’s been about the same for a month, hardly a drop from the sky, and pretty warm.]
This time around, the annual New Year’s Eve potluck party in Finnur’s family was hosted by his youngest sister and family. They’ve recently moved into a much bigger house, and it so happened that the town’s bonfire would be essentially in their backyard!
Saturday 31 December 2022
Happy 2023! The annual tradition of starlight-writing lives on…
Baking for the party later that evening. Note the now fully-decorated ginger-bread house!
I dragged Emma out for a walk in the copious snow. I was hoping this path up the hill had been traversed, but it was undisturbed, and slightly tricky to pass without me getting shoes full of snow.
We made it up to the Buddha stupa up on the hill edge.
Thankful for the serious snow plowing action!
At the entrance to the teenaged forest.
Resting tired feet. She’d just about had it at that point, but I had a destination in mind…
At the turn, leading up to the observation point.
We made it! But just barely.
Documenting.
After she got the good headlight, she stormed off ahead of me to get home as quickly as possible.
We made it home just shy of 6 pm. Time to get ready for a party!
Party table coming together.
Appetizers and guests!
BBQ-ing among the snow-piles!
Siblings.
Father and daughter, during a stare-off.
Son and mother.
Salting under flashing lights!
Emma picked out her favorite foods.
Mmmm, food!
The annual squid-dish that Finnur’s dad makes.
After dinner, it was time to walk to the bonfire. We could see the fire-light above the houses.
Found it! There was a pretty large crowd already there.
Big fire is big.
Emma not quite sure what to think.
Three fire-men kept throwing oil on the fire to really stoke it. Real men don’t look back at explosions they’ve caused!
Firelit selfie.
The fire roared.
But they kept on throwing fuel onto it.
Big, bada, BOOM!
Mesmerized.
My phone camera had an interesting way of dealing with the excessive brightness.
Look who decided to join the party! We would discover later in the evening that Mr. Middle had forgotten to bring a winter coat, but happily it was quite warm by the fire.
Fire-lit siblings.
Heading back inside, looking back towards the crowd.
Setting off a few fireworks before the Annual Comedy-Hour Show.
Somebody bought a fireworks “cake”.
The annual comedy hour went down smoothly, and was of unusually high quality. Here we are 20 minutes to midnight! Time to put on some outside clothes!
There weren’t that many people home it seemed, but the neighbors still put on a good show!
Darn trees blocking the view! 😉
Half the fun is watching everyone go nuts.
Bjarki managed to borrow a thick jacket.
A shot just went off!
So much light!
Happy 2023!
Arty shot.
To a new year!
Emma accidentally doing a Statue of Liberty imitation.
Bjarki conducting fireworks.
Family photo! As the explosions calmed down (somewhat), we went back inside for some extra late dessert, before driving home. We all slept in late. Happy New Year, everybody!!
