2Deleted
I fall asleep before midnight now.
Jan. 1 is a holy day of obligation (the RCC's favorite word) for my husband. Used to be the Feast of the Circumcision, but might be Holy Name Day or Feast of the BVM now. This year it also might be Epiphany Sunday. I forget. But my husband goes to Mass. I quit going with him because the local parish is full of anti-vaxxers.
Winter is too dicey to have any traditions on New Years other than as Fallback Christmas when snow on Xmas, like this year, made family get-togethers impossible. It's supposed to be 50 and rainy, so I presume our son will show up, and I will make something resembling a holiday dinner.
Jan. 1 is a holy day of obligation (the RCC's favorite word) for my husband. Used to be the Feast of the Circumcision, but might be Holy Name Day or Feast of the BVM now. This year it also might be Epiphany Sunday. I forget. But my husband goes to Mass. I quit going with him because the local parish is full of anti-vaxxers.
Winter is too dicey to have any traditions on New Years other than as Fallback Christmas when snow on Xmas, like this year, made family get-togethers impossible. It's supposed to be 50 and rainy, so I presume our son will show up, and I will make something resembling a holiday dinner.
3Tess_W
>2 nohrt4me2: I, too, have problems staying awake till midnight! No special traditions for the eve. However, I fix the traditional roast pork with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes and invite family and a few friends. It's like open house--come if you want--don't feel obligated--there is plenty. Food is warm from 12-5!
4John5918
Me too - I can't stay awake until midnight any more! We'll not be doing anything special on New Year's Eve, although we're going for lunch at a friend's house on New Year's Day.
I have memories from my younger days, though, such as going with friends up to Trafalgar Square in London as a teenager, watching people frolicking in the fountains at midnight in the bitter cold (that's been banned for years now, with everything fenced off for "elf and safe tea" reasons), the girls kissing all the bobbies, and then getting a night bus half way home and having to walk the rest of the way - London didn't have a 24 hour transport system in them days.
Or a few years later, experiencing Hogmanay in the north east of England among the Geordies who celebrate it as seriously as the Scots. It's an all night do. Soon after midnight the first footers start arriving, carrying a lump of coal. I can't remember whether they also bring a bottle of whisky or whether you're supposed to give them a tot (or both?), but one way of the other a lot whisky is drunk each time another one turns up. The party is still going strong when day breaks, and the phone starts ringing (before the days of mobile phones) from people who couldn't make it in person but still want to send greetings.
Or fast forward to the millennium new year, 2000, when I was partying at the home of a mate who lives in the Kenyan bush. We roasted a whole pig on an open fire. At midnight his father in law went to fetch his shotgun to fire a few rounds into the air in celebration, but then remembered that he'd used the last of his ammunition scaring off elephants which were raiding the crops. That was the year of the great millennium bug scare when people expected computers to melt down and cause the collapse of western civilisation. Me mate's house was off-grid, using solar power, harvesting rainwater and also a small river at the bottom of the hill, keeping cattle and growing food crops. We mused on the millennium bug and concluded that it would make no difference to us and the only way we would know if it actually happened would be that BBC World Service, which we were listening to on short wave on a small transistor radio, would go off the air.
Happy new year!
I have memories from my younger days, though, such as going with friends up to Trafalgar Square in London as a teenager, watching people frolicking in the fountains at midnight in the bitter cold (that's been banned for years now, with everything fenced off for "elf and safe tea" reasons), the girls kissing all the bobbies, and then getting a night bus half way home and having to walk the rest of the way - London didn't have a 24 hour transport system in them days.
Or a few years later, experiencing Hogmanay in the north east of England among the Geordies who celebrate it as seriously as the Scots. It's an all night do. Soon after midnight the first footers start arriving, carrying a lump of coal. I can't remember whether they also bring a bottle of whisky or whether you're supposed to give them a tot (or both?), but one way of the other a lot whisky is drunk each time another one turns up. The party is still going strong when day breaks, and the phone starts ringing (before the days of mobile phones) from people who couldn't make it in person but still want to send greetings.
Or fast forward to the millennium new year, 2000, when I was partying at the home of a mate who lives in the Kenyan bush. We roasted a whole pig on an open fire. At midnight his father in law went to fetch his shotgun to fire a few rounds into the air in celebration, but then remembered that he'd used the last of his ammunition scaring off elephants which were raiding the crops. That was the year of the great millennium bug scare when people expected computers to melt down and cause the collapse of western civilisation. Me mate's house was off-grid, using solar power, harvesting rainwater and also a small river at the bottom of the hill, keeping cattle and growing food crops. We mused on the millennium bug and concluded that it would make no difference to us and the only way we would know if it actually happened would be that BBC World Service, which we were listening to on short wave on a small transistor radio, would go off the air.
Happy new year!
5Crypto-Willobie
Stay home. Call my mom on the phone.
I don't drink and i dislike crowds/parties. My mom died 5 1/2 years ago, 6 weeks before she would've turned 90. So now i just stay home. Glad to do it.
I don't drink and i dislike crowds/parties. My mom died 5 1/2 years ago, 6 weeks before she would've turned 90. So now i just stay home. Glad to do it.
6Deleted
>4 John5918: I'm pretty sure there is whiskey, and lots of it!
Great story about the bush Christmas!
In younger years, we used to trudge on snow shoes into the northern Michigan woods where a friend had set up a big bonfire a few days ahead. He'd usually bank snow around it and finish it off to make benches to sit on. Hot cocoa in thermoses, and somebody usually had a flask of peppermint schnapps for the adults. Often we'd see a snowy owl, which we took for good luck.
It is a very happy memory, and I enjoy thinking of it!
Great story about the bush Christmas!
In younger years, we used to trudge on snow shoes into the northern Michigan woods where a friend had set up a big bonfire a few days ahead. He'd usually bank snow around it and finish it off to make benches to sit on. Hot cocoa in thermoses, and somebody usually had a flask of peppermint schnapps for the adults. Often we'd see a snowy owl, which we took for good luck.
It is a very happy memory, and I enjoy thinking of it!
7Deleted
>3 Tess_W: Pork roast sounds good! I think it will be Swedish meatballs in the slow cooker for us.
82wonderY
I keep meaning to do the frying pan sauerkraut dish. It’s got tomatoes in it and it can stay on the back of the stove for a week just getting better and better.
But the night of, I usually conk out early.
This year I will have custody of some of the grands. So I might have to stay up too late for comfort. I do have plenty of noisemakers and ringing pots and pans.
Daughter did Swedish meatballs for Christmas, and I happened to have a jar of lingonberry jam to go with. Umm-umm!
But the night of, I usually conk out early.
This year I will have custody of some of the grands. So I might have to stay up too late for comfort. I do have plenty of noisemakers and ringing pots and pans.
Daughter did Swedish meatballs for Christmas, and I happened to have a jar of lingonberry jam to go with. Umm-umm!
9WholeHouseLibrary
Unlike the rest of you, I have trouble getting to sleep before (almost) dawn.
And like Crypto-Willobie, I stay at home. It's just another day for me. I also don't drink, and much prefer a small gathering to, say, the crowd that my folks hosted Thanksgiving for every year. Seventy -- all relatives from my mother's side of the family. Those were great times, but when three hundred showed up at my house for the memorial for MrsHouseLibrary, I shut down for a long while. She (59) and my mother (94) died less than three months apart, four years ago.
Maybe I'll do some geocaching.
And like Crypto-Willobie, I stay at home. It's just another day for me. I also don't drink, and much prefer a small gathering to, say, the crowd that my folks hosted Thanksgiving for every year. Seventy -- all relatives from my mother's side of the family. Those were great times, but when three hundred showed up at my house for the memorial for MrsHouseLibrary, I shut down for a long while. She (59) and my mother (94) died less than three months apart, four years ago.
Maybe I'll do some geocaching.
10Hope_H
We usually hang out with friends and our adult children, order a pizza or two, and maybe play a game. This year, though, our friends are at a relative's wedding and the adult children have other plans, so Mr. H and I will probably order a pizza and call it a night! We do have a murder mystery puzzle we could break out if we get bored.
