I typically don’t get excited for New Years, or New Years Eve. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have the day off, but the whole celebration that goes on the night before has never appealed to me.
The night of year that I do enjoy going out and celebrating is the Saturday before Thanksgiving, where my wife along with friends go downtown to have dinner and to see the Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights parade. While I don’t get too excited over the actual parade, I do appreciate the experience of that afternoon and night out, especially knowing we have a short work week and that the holiday season is about to kick off.
With New Years, you’re left with nothing. As a kid, New Years was the extra holiday that came a week after Christmas, except there were no presents. The New Years holiday also meant that winter vacation was soon coming to an end. As an adult, I don’t get winter vacation, but I do get some extra days off around Christmas and New Years. Once New Years passes, the extra days off are gone and society goes back into “normal” work mode.
Another thing I have against New Years are the countdown shows. I don’t understand the appeal of watching complete strangers partying, while the news anchors attempt to act cool while on location. I enjoy watching Anderson Cooper on his nightly CNN news show, but I don’t care to see his lighter side along with the eccentric Kathy Griffin.
The same goes for the annual Mark Giangreco and Janet Davies kiss at the stroke of midnight.
