💬 Diwali abroad is quiet and I miss the noise from home

Every year the Indian families in our building in Jeddah get together for a small Diwali on the terrace. My neighbour Anita puts out rows of small clay lamps along the wall, and we all help light them. Someone brings sweets from the one shop in town that makes them properly. The others add too much sugar. It gets dark early enough, so the lamps look good by 6:30. People stand around and take photos. Last year a Filipino couple from the next floor came up to ask what the lovely smell was. We explained the festival to them for 10 minutes. They asked if they could hold one of the lamps. The husband took a photo of it and said he'd show his mother back home. It was a sweet moment. I stood there thinking, this is nice, and also this is nothing like Diwali at home. At home in Hyderabad it was noise. Crackers from 5 in the evening, going in every direction. Cousins ran between houses with sparklers, and somebody always burned a shirt. My grandmother shouted from the veranda. Here the loudest thing is the exhaust fan. We keep our voices low in the corridor because of the neighbours. I miss the noise more than the lights. I didn't expect that. My wife says the terrace Diwali is enough, and she's right. Still, I call my brother in Hyderabad every year. He holds the phone up so I can hear the crackers outside his window. It's a poor substitute, but I take it. If you're abroad and celebrate festivals, how do you keep them from feeling flat? Do you invite neighbours too? I'm planning to get more lamps next year, maybe 30 instead of 20. The terrace has room.