Originally Posted by DriGuy

My first introduction to New Years Eve was when I was a small child. It seemed like a wonderful idea. I got to stay up so late that it became the next day, and even the next year, although that seemed of lesser importance. In addition, you got to make noise in the middle of the night. My dad rolled an empty 50 gal oil drum out to the front of the house. The top had been removed, and we beat on it with a hammer, until a couple of the neighbors shouted at us because they were trying to sleep.

Later, when I was part of the workforce, I liked New Years because it was an official day off from work. I never quite understood the day off, when the celebration seemed to happen the day before. I guess it was because everyone would be nursing hangovers and not be worth having around the shop when work was to be done.

It's a strange thing to celebrate the passing of time, even a new year. Other than some arbitrary date on the calendar, there's not much reason to do anything different. Perhaps it's important because the planet has completed one full revolution around the sun, but that happens every day of the year. A revolution has no identifiable beginning. The Big Bang didn't occur on Jan 1st as far as I know, and the Earth didn't suddenly start revolving on Jan 1st. But I always enjoy a day off from work, except now I'm retired, so I kind of miss out on the one important aspect of the holiday.

Bah Humbug!