Auld Lang Syne

New Year's Eve.

Here it is once again.

I have struggled over the years with getting excited about the new year.
Maybe because as a kid it marked the end of our Christmas break.

As a teen it just meant another night when my friends went out and I worked drive up window at Wendy's serving all the drunks.

As a young adult, and with babies in the house, I seldom drank. I might have a toast at midnight if I was still awake.

It wasn't until 1999 that we actually celebrated with friends.
The year of the big Y2K scare!

That year began a tradition of us 6-8 couples getting together and playing a How to Host a Murder game, full costumes and all. Those are great memories.

This year we are back to celebrating at home, not with little ones mind you.
And it is different having adult children to celebrate with.

But it leaves me to ponder the event a New Year celebration is to so many and wonder why?

What am I missing?

Or is it just hype?


Here are some quotes I found reflecting other's thought about the New Year:
(In No particular order.)


For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot
(I like the line: next year's words await another voice.)


He who breaks a resolution is a weakling;
He who makes one is a fool.
~F.M. Knowles
(Would I rather be a weakling or a fool?)

May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions. ~Joey Adams
(If I don't make a resolution, does that mean my troubles will disappear?)

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce
(Chapter 1: Opportunity. I need more time to think about this.)


The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year's Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you're married to. ~P.J. O'Rourke
(Jeff don't get offended, please. I just thought it was funny.)


Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to. ~Bill Vaughn
(That be true!)


An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in.
A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~Bill Vaughan
(I figure the new year will happen whether my eyes are open or closed.)


Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits. ~Author Unknown
(This has generally been my pattern. In light of the above quote about being a weakling or a fool, I am still undecided.)


A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. ~Author Unknown
(I thought this was funny and accurate. At least for me.)


Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~Benjamin Franklin
(You can never go wrong with ole Ben. I believe it was Ben that said, " Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.")


People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas. ~Author Unknown
(Another true statement that should become my resolution.)


We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. ~Ellen Goodman
(As I have begun my list of repairs to make around the house in my unemployed state, I think I will take this quote to heart.)


The only way to spend New Year's Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears. ~W.H. Auden

(I wish all my friends and family much love and happiness in the coming year.)