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 sta