Celebrating New Year's Over the Years

Today is New Year's Eve. It's the day we say goodbye to 2023 and ring in a new year. It's the one night our children are allowed to stay up late, only to have them conk out on the floor or the couch while the rest of us wish everyone a Happy New Year.

Celebrating with Friends

There have been different ways of celebrating the New Year. The earliest celebrations I can remember is when friends and neighbors came to the house to celebrate. My siblings and I couldn't understand why we had to go to bed while the adults got to stay up late. I wanted to know what happened when the clock struck twelve. How exactly did the new year arrive and what was the big deal? No one bothered to explain to us kids what happened or how it happened. All I knew was that we went to bed one year and woke up in a completely different year.

As time went on, a new though short-lived tradition occurred. My best friends and their parents would come over to celebrate New Year's Eve. No one was staying up until midnight, but it was fun to play with our friends at night. Chinese food was served for dinner on New Year's Eve. The best part for me and my brother was our friends would sleep over that night. This only lasted about two years, but it was still a lot of fun while it happened.

Celebrating with Family in Maine

Photo: threestooges.com

My favorite New Year's celebrations started when I was in the sixth grade. At the time, I had no idea it would start a tradition or how much I would miss it when it stopped happening. It all began when we rang in the glorious year of 1989. We went to Lyman, Maine to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins. This New Year's Eve just happened to be the Third (or "Thoid") Annual Three Stooges Marathon on Channel 38. Some of my favorite episodes to watch with the family were "Disorder in the Court", "Moe, Larry, Cheese!", and "Duck, Dodge, Hyde" After counting down to the new year, we would pop off the cork of a bottle of champagne and drink a toast. The next day, we would go outside and try to find the cork among the leaves and brush. Uncle Joe and Aunt Marlene lived in Maine, so there was plenty of woods to scour through for the cork.

"He's asking if you swear-"

"No, but I know all the words" - The Three Stooges, "Disorder in the Court 

 

 

Throughout this tradition, we alternated who would host. One year we would go to Maine, and the other year Uncle Joe, Aunt Marlene, and cousins Jennifer and Joey would come visit us in Massachusetts. I liked it better when we went to see them.

Unfortunately, we stopped seeing my aunt and uncle on New Year's. It didn't matter much for me, though, because I got a job at a restaurant that required me to work on New Year's Eve. I was home by midnight, but I still had to work, so even if my family did see each other, I couldn't be there.

Going to see Aerosmith

Photo: Aerosmith.com

If you're an adult from Massachusetts, chances are you've seen Aerosmith during one of their New Year's Eve shows at the Boston Garden or the FleetCenter. I rang in 1998 with the Bad Boys from Boston when I saw them on their "Nine Lives" Tour and saw them again to kick off 1999. Both shows were great. One of my favorite memories was New Years of '99 when they stuck Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" in the middle of "Sweet Emotion". Good Times.

"Y2K" and Other Good Times

There have been other celebrations. Of course, there was the infamous "Y2K" chapter, and people were wondering what would happen when the year 2000 came. Nothing happened, people went to bed and woke up with electricity and internet fully intact. I took a job loading trucks, and the new year was celebrated in the back of a refrigerated truck where I slung crates of milk and juice into their places and got back home for precious hours of sleep.

Photo: Investopedia.com

Between then and now, we were able to make it back to Maine for a celebration or two. Tonight, we will be at a neighbor's house with other friends to welcome 2024. It's going to be a time where Wife and I will reflect on the excitement and adventures we had during 2023. We'll wish each other a Happy 2024, then head back home where we go to bed and wake up with it being the same year it was when we went to bed, unlike the New Years of the past for me. The Boy will be the most excited of all of us since we'll be at the home of one of his best friends. There will be lively conversation, goodies, and maybe some games. Most important, we'll be seeing friends, sharing jokes and stories, and having a good time. Whatever you're doing tonight, I hope you have some fun, too. Happy New Year!