Is New Year’s Eve Really That Big Of A Deal?

Back in 1983, New Year’s Eve still felt like a big deal to me. I was 15 years old.  My parents had gone out for the evening with some of their friends.  The friends had all left their kids at our house with the idea that as a group we would somehow keep ourselves out of trouble while the adults partied. We kids had been set up with enough junk food and soda to keep a small army happy for weeks. We played cards, listened to music and watched the ball drop in Times Square right at midnight like it really mattered. After all, it was suddenly 1984! A new year was underway and it felt important to be a part of it. When we finally surfaced around noon the next day it actually felt like something had changed.  It was the future!

Leftover trash after the annual New Year's Eve bash in Times Square New York City

As I grew older New Year’s Eve became less about the turning of the calendar and more about yet another excuse to have a party with friends, eat small pieces of food passed around on plastic trays, and drink. The Christmas parties had come and gone but here we were just a week later dressed up in our best clothes all over again pretending to be sophisticated.

That was pretty much the late 1980’s and early 1990’s for me.  It was some good times, but it was not about the turning of the year as much as it was about gathering with friends.

Somewhere along the way in the following years the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve stopped being magical at all for me. This year, as like about the last ten years or so, January 1st is looking less like a special day on the calendar and more like a Thursday I have off from work so I can watch my fill of college football.

But for me there is still a wrinkle of sorts on this international holiday. Early on the morning of January 1st, 1991, I was smart enough to propose marriage to my girlfriend of less than a year. For reasons only known to her, she was foolish enough to say ‘yes’ and as of today we have been happily married for nearly 16 years.

So you can keep your formal parties with cold food, cheap champagne, and the risking of life and limb as you dodge the drunks on the drive home.  For me, like for the past decade, New Year’s Eve will be a quiet night around the house.  There’s only about a 50-50 chance I’ll even be awake at midnight.  But, at around 1:30 AM I’ll roll over and give my lovely wife a small kiss.  That is the magic moment on the calendar that I celebrate every year.

Do you have a truly magical moment that you celebrate every year?  Do you need to go out in 2009 and try to make one?  Stay safe and have a happy New Year.

Article photo provided by: Andrew Baron

Front page photo provided by: *L*u*z*a*