Maybe we need to find a time that more or less works for a good number of people here, pour ourselves a drink, and log in and share pics and all that.
I don't know about the same time, given the widespread nature of the forum.
rascal would be the first to see on any 'celebration' followed by myself and
murphyscreek. then I beleive it would be
Yorky .... then these in the Mediterranean, Europe, UK before heading over to the east coast of the U.S.. and westward.
It may work better if it was a photo of drinks at a certain time of day, your local time.
But I know I'm not the only one who does not stay up to see the New Year in. So we'd need to pick a certain daytime time for most to participate. A dedicated thread would be best, both for the decision and for the resulting photos.
LissaC, I wish I could make it better for you. If I could go back in time to your age I would do things so differently. I know it's hard but the BEST thing I ever did for myself is to distance myself from family drama and toxic people. It took me decades and for me to end up totally broken to realize it. I'm not trying to tell you what to do or cross boundaries. I really just want you to know that you are not alone and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, I miss out on family "togetherness" but I also miss the verbal and physical abuse (yes, my family is VERY toxic). I even have much younger siblings like you. I was always there for them and they both turned on me as adults because they didn't want to be disinherited like I was. I don't care because I needed loving and supportive parents. Money cannot replace that.
A very good friend (now gone), the closest I had to a loving mother figure, told me "You are a beautiful swan surrounded by ugly ducklings." and she was right. I honestly thought my parents would chill out in old age. They are just as hateful, back-stabbing and as mean as they were when I was a kid. I love them because they brought me in the world but I would NEVER choose those type of people as friends. Friends are the "family" we get to choose.
All the best to you, my dear. Remember, you are not alone.
I'm so glad that I'm not the only one with a such a family. I used to do everything for them. I was always there for them and there in person, on their door, when they needed me despite living +200 miles away at the time. We'd often end up driving up overnight whilst one of us slept in the car. Ready, there in the morning to do whatever was needed before driving the 230 miles home again. Time off work, annual leave, flexi leave, or just entire weekends were all taken up on this manner years on end.
And yet when I needed them the most, despite being 20 miles away, it took them 6 months to even visit us, let alone consider helping. In fact help never came. My husband's family came to see me long before my own family did and then with my family it was the one who lived furthest away who came first.
I try to forgive, but it's hard. I know that they came out to help us home when our cycle attempt around the world ended are jaws of a pack of dogs, but for my mother that was exciting. She got to go to a corner of the world she has not been to and would not have done because it was outside of her comfort zone. She got to be the center of attention, so she helped. but I was actually fairly mobile them. When I need her the most (or any longer in my family) when my back went and left me bedbound for 9 months, no one helped. We were on our own totally. If hubby had not brought me something and left it on the bed in reach, then I had to manage for the entire day without it. Medication, food, water, entertainment, the lot. He literally made me a picnic every morning before going to work. Family could have helped out but they didn't. Forgiving is difficult. Forgetting is going to be impossible.
I am curious with the experiences of members who live in Asia, I have a hunch all this mask/lockdown resistance isn't mostly a western thing.
They have a culture of wearing masks so far more wear them. Even here in Australia, before covid-19, before the bush fires (we all needed N95 & ideally N99 masks during the fires and masks were night on impossible to get hold of during last summer ), it was a common site to see people of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and to a lesser extent Japanese decent wearing masks all the time (even whilst driving). It was something we noticed coming out here 4½ years ago. How much more prevalent they were. But not so much amongst the younger generation.
. I played one live once, and said, "I wrote this one for my wife," and one of the other guys in the band who was always a quick wit, said, "Every song a person writes is about their partner...either how much they love them or how much they hate them. Which one is this gonna be?" 
