Yes, Jackie, all of us will celebrate Diwali wherever we are in some which way. But, you are right, it is TREMENDOUSLY lessened. Of course, if the local Indian community is organising the celebrations, it brings everyone together and helps ameliorate the feeling somewhat.

But, IMHO, the mood of the festival simply cannot be transplanted. Deepavali must be celebrated in India for the *whole experience. The streets, the neighbourhoods, the homes all come alive; there are lights and paper laterns everywhere. And there are intra and inter neighbourhood firework competitions - to see who creates the maximum noise and who begins earliest in the morning (4 AM is LATE)! They start at dawn, take a breather at around daybreak and the day is spent in relative quiet (with the sporadic but continual sounds of cracker blasts) almost as if everyone is biding their time. Come twilight, the cities and their people come alive and the accompanying noise is deafening to say the least. It goes on like that till the wee hours of the morning, only to continue in the same fashion the next day. For three whole days, is Diwali, but the middle day is the most important.
And to go with all of this, there is a special food festival with a menu full of dishes all specially made for Diwali, with cuisines from all the different states and ethnicities contributing!!
Thanks for the wishes!