Anyone over the age of sixteen years old in The Netherlands can purchase enough explosives fireworks to sink Sweden and you can set them off pretty much anywhere as long as you only do it on the last three days of the year. Because those are the safe days when skin and buildings don't burn in The Netherlands. The laws here are truly endearing.
What did the kids learn about me? That I am a closet pyromaniac. The girl looked a little concerned as I excitedly fawned over the display models in the back-alley, temporary firework store. As she watched me light firecrackers to throw out the window of the Volvo, she asked me if I was the same Mother who wouldn't allow her to jump on a trampoline. No comparison, I say!The Loot!
This made me very happy.
We had a few trials on the way home just to see what we were dealing with; throwing them on ice is very cool, under cars and near discarded televisions: not such a good idea.
Once home, we packed four backpacks with lighters, fuses, explosives and a bottle of Goldstrike (because alcohol and explosives are always a good mix), dressed for the weather, filled our pockets with firecrackers and started down the city street giggling at how illegal this is everywhere else in the world.
In Canada, fireworks were only set off by some sort of explosives experts after securing the necessary permits, cordoning off 10 acres of land and having the local fire department on stand-by. Hell, Werner would land in a South African labour camp for life for carrying a fraction of the arsenal that we had in our pockets. We lit 5 centimetre fuses then ran and hid behind the nearest tree; worked out just as well as far as I could tell.Unfortunately, in our untethered excitement, Werner, the kids and I managed to fire off almost everything except a few firecrackers by about 7:00 in the evening. All that was left to do after that was to listen to everyone else who paced themselves a little better which made our street sound like a warzone until around 5:00 in the morning. Only a few explosions actually shook the house a little.
All in all - great time! The kids chose to hang with us on New Year's Eve, we only spent money on rockets and pizza, we walked everywhere and we brought in 2010 together while sipping champagne and watching all of Holland setting off fireworks from their back decks.