Evolution of NYE from Childhood to Parenthood, and beyond :)

As a child, I remember the anticipation of getting to stay up till midnight to ring in the new year.  Staying up till midnight, what a thrill!!! Then high school, where you were hoping someone would invite you over so you didn't have to spend NYE with your parents, how lame is that?  Then college is where it really started to get good!

College live and NYE are notoriously a rocking good time, and the next day...not so fun with that headache and all :)  Everyone trying to figure out where the best place would be to ring in the new year?  A fraternity house, the local bar, a community event...and it all depended on where you knew that certain someone was planning to go, so you could be there too!!! Then college comes to an end and wedding bells chime, and the beginning of NYE as a married couple.

Now, NYE is almost the same as the college years in the beginning, but instead of wondering who you might want to kiss at midnight...that was set!!! No worries there, and being still young it was all about the party then too!  What to wear, and it needed to be dressy, maybe go to a country club party, or an exclusive hotel ballroom party, something more upscale...more sophisticated, or grown up :)

Then babies come along.  NYE, who cares, you just want to sleep!!! Especially since you don't get to on a regular basis.  You think to yourself, why in the world would anyone want to intentionally stay up late, drink and not feel good in the morning??? Then kids get a little older, and you decide maybe we can let them stay up till midnight, ring in the new year with sparkling grape juice, and they will sleep late tomorrow morning! Yeah right!!! Instead they wake up same old time and are crabby all day long...yet you continue to repeat this every year and take the punishment New Years Day like a trooper. After all, there is nothing sweeter than kissing those sweet little faces when the Ball drops in Time Square, and watching the confetti fall to the streets with noise makers going like wild!

Your kids get older, and now you are worried sick over what they are doing out on NYE, since you still remember what goes on :(  You pray for safety, and just hold your breathe until you hear the door open and know they are home safe!  By this time, you stay up to watch the ball drop, but it's kind of lost it's luster, and concerned parent paranoia has set in!  It is a new year, you are just getting older, and life is going at the rate of a runaway train, and you desperately want it to slow down if not stop!!! How could it be?

Kids are grown and gone! You have grandkids now, and you think you might stay awake to ring in the new year, but fall short by falling asleep on the couch or giving up and just going to bed.  Who cares it is a new year, death is at your door...you have a doctors appointment this week, and Wednesday is Senior Citizen discount day at the grocery store, and we might have snow flurries this week.

So this is my humorous look at the evolution of NYE, and well, for the most part, it is pretty true to life like it or not!!! What else can we do but smile and just move on...Happy New Year friends!!! no matter where you may fall in this evolutionary path of New Years Eve :)