What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

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I always thought it was ironic to combine a night of drunkenness and indulgence with making new goals/resolutions. How many times have I resolved to have a healthier lifestyle in the new year, only to wake up on the first day of that new year, hung over, exhausted and regretting all of the rich, albeit, delicious food that went along with the celebrations.

New Year’s Eve is not the night to get creative and start making fancy cocktails…and yet every year I do. Because New Year’s Eve = party. And I just end up answering that call – to celebrate! I don’t even like champagne, but come New Year’s, I suddenly MUST have some.

A couple of years ago, I realized that many of my friends don’t even believe in making resolutions because they never stick. I was floored by that opinion, because, of course, I realized that for the most part, they are right.

But what does that say about us? Can’t we change? And if we want to make some changes, why not make them at the beginning of a new year? It seems that sometimes resolutions do stick…case in point…Mike decided he was going to learn guitar and he’s still going full steam ahead two years later!

Out with the old and in with the new. In my family, we had the tradition of letting the old year out the back door in a great burst of noise – banging pots and pans with wooden spoons. And then letting the New Year in through the front door, with an equal bang, smash, crash.

New Year’s Eve also has some romance to it. Dress up. Kiss the one you love at midnight. It’s time to be wined and dined. It’s full of Hope. Nostalgia. A perfect set-up for good times. And the perfect set-up for disaster as well.

Great expectations can equal dashed hopes. I unfortunately fall into the category of people who can never quite enjoy New Year’s Eve. I haven’t mastered the art of it. Whatever plans are made, they hardly ever turn out the way I’d hoped.

Last year, Mike and I rented two of the all time best movies to watch on New Year’s Eve – according to several websites. Anyway the first movie was pretty dated. It was called Blythe Spirit, screenplay by Noel Coward. When the next movie started, we were encouraged by the idea that at least it wasn’t going to be a Noel Coward movie – but of course it was! And although it wasn’t as bad as the first one, it was just okay. I think it was called Brief Encounter. 

Anyway, the plan this year was to pick much better movies – but there are no good movies to rent right now. We were going to go out to a movie – but we’re both recovering from a flu bug – so we need to stick close to home.

I’ve always had the idea that it would be fun to go to Nathan Phillips Square one year, but the reality of standing in the freezing cold has never quite appealed to me. It’s time to get reflective. TRY to remember all the important events and milestones of this past year and maybe, just maybe make a New Year’s resolution. What have I got to lose?


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