Are you one of those people who says New Year’s Eve “isn’t for me”? Maybe you’ve said there’s “too much pressure to have a good time”? I’ve been there—scrambling to find a plan days or even hours before, ending up at some $100+ ticketed champagne-toast-at-midnight-included hellscape. With nights like that, I can understand how it’s become an unpopular holiday. But it’s MY favorite holiday*, and I’m gonna to tell you why**. Here, in no order at all because I have too many commitment issues to do superlatives, are 10 reasons I love New Year’s:
Tiny, elegant foods. Give me all the mini empanadas.
Champagne. I have an absolutely Pavlovian response to the sound of a cork popping. I freakin love champagne. Even if you don’t drink, you’ve got to appreciate the pageantry of opening a bottle of bubbly.
It’s not a family holiday. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family so much!!! But after Thanksgiving and Christmas it’s a nice reprieve to have a holiday that’s more about gathering with friends and chosen family.
It’s actually two holidays. There’s the NYE, and there’s the NYD—a bonus holiday traditionally celebrated on the couch with an entire pizza and a movie marathon because everyone knows resolutions don’t begin until January 2nd.
Sequins are encouraged. And glitter. And confetti.
Group yelling. Love a spirited countdown! And there is some magic to it, being held together in the moment of anticipation.
It’s a time for feeling unbridled hope for yourself and the year ahead. Unapologetic optimist here. You knew that. The thing about New Year’s is, it has the power to make optimists of the most curmudgeonly among us. I marvel at the perserverance of the human spirit to believe, year after year, against all evidence to the contrary, that this will be the year everything changes. And sometimes, it is! Why not extend the hope of the holiday to all of 2023? Optimist Laurie Anderson said it best: “Because it's just more fun.”
KISSING?!!!
It’s not religious. Cue some nerd telling me how actually it has pagan roots dating back to the… I don’t care! I’m not learning that! In my mind one of the pleasures of the holiday is that it’s so inclusive, able to be celebrated by all, regardless of their faith (with respect to my Jewish and Asian brothers and sisters who have their own New Year calendar which I also celebrate in my heart because have you been reading this I LOVE A NEW YEAR).
It’s a way of marking time. I’ve already written about my fascination with time. It is so important to have a way of framing time together. And I’ll go ahead and say it: now, more than ever. Because what the hell even were the last three years?! Yikes. We are all still processing so much trauma, personal and pandemic-related. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to look back, and look ahead, and decide what’s important to you and what you can leave behind. If you’re like me, 2022 was a blur, where I tried to throw myself back into a “normal” life only to discover it wasn’t really there anymore. I’m ok with that. Ring in the new.
Thanks for reading. Happy New Year.
Bonus reason: it gave us this perfect melancholy-sweet holiday song:
* Second to my own birthday, which is sadly not universally acknowledged, but is the only other occasion when I can convince my disparate social circles to come together for a celebration.
** Confession: I throw a party every year and it’s a major con because I don’t have to leave my house. Ha ha! Got em.
I love this! My mom had to forward to me cause for some reason I got unsubscribed, or it didn’t make it to my inbox… regardless love you and HNY!