Sky lanterns over a frozen lake

I have always wanted to go to the lantern festivals in South East Asia

Image Location

But then I decided to see if I could bring the lantern festival to us - to my friends here - for New Years Eve.

So I did some research, and found out that you could by the sky lanterns here.

When my friends and I decided to celebrate the new year near a frozen lake in Vermont, I decided to bring along a bunch of sky lanterns.

(the daytime view of the lake)

Before midnight, we all wrote our hopes and dreams for 2012 on them.

And then walked to the lake, and released them into the sky.

  

 

Toasting the first moments of 2012!