Sales of fireworks didn't start until Friday, but Thursday night in the skies over Kalihi, the rockets' red, blue and sparkly green glare could be seen for miles.

Maybe it was a Christmas miracle.

During the Friday night power outage, the entire Island was in the dark, but the skies overhead were lit up by illegal aerial fireworks, as though the blackout provided the perfect opportunity for miscreants to set off their explosives with impunity —though even when the lights are on, it seems like no one ever gets busted.

All over O'ahu, neighbors are grumbling and frustrated over the rash of illegal aerial fireworks being set off night after night. Some people say it started before Thanksgiving this year. A few swear it was more like right after Halloween. In any case, the consensus is that this has been the worst year in memory for rogue rocketry and somebody must have snuck in a big boatload of the stuff.

The euphemism "impromptu displays" to describe the flagrant explosions of illegal aerial fireworks is a bit hard to handle. There's nothing impromptu about buying stuff illegally and finding a place to set it off with the greatest amount of impact and the least chance of getting caught.

Some of the "testimonials" e-mailed to the Advertiser after the first article ran about the rash of illegal aerials sum up the night-after-night agony of folks just trying to get a good nights' sleep or keep their pets from going mental:

From Waikele/Waipahu:

"It's worse than ever! Last night we were startled out of our beds at midnight with the loudest explosion I've ever heard. If I were in the military, I'd swear we were under attack! Our dogs are completely terrified and I really think this is such a disrespect to the Christmas holidays."

"Last night, bombs went off in my neighborhood (Punchbowl) at 1 a.m. Paradise, huh? Silent Night, huh?"

"To let you know how bad it is — we live in old 'Ewa Beach, my friend lives in Ocean Pointe — I was talking on the phone with her and a bomb goes off, we both heard it at the same time."

To be clear, fireworks can legally be set off from 9 p.m. on Dec. 31 until 1 a.m. Jan. 1. Aerials require a permit, and the kind of stuff that we've been seeing in O'ahu skies truly requires a professional, not a couple of yahoos with a lighter and a death wish.

But if the last two months have been bad, people dread the coming havoc of New Year's Eve. The common prayer being offered up across neighborhoods is "Rain! Rain! Rain!"

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.