January 1st is always a special day for us because it marks the anniversary of when Steve and I became an actual family with the birth of our first son. On the first day of 1987, our roles changed into that of parents. What an amazing 36 years it has been.

Compared to old sparklers that used gunpowder, contemporary sparklers are composed of three fundamental components: metal fuel (which reacts with oxygen to produce sparks, and gives color depending on the exact element), oxidizers (which release oxygen molecules to fuel the chemical reaction), and binders (which hold the whole mixture together, like cement in construction). To put it simply, a sparkler is a thin shaft, usually an iron wire, which is coated in a flammable paste. Dangerous but so dang festive!