The New Year's Dilemma

This is the season of resolution.

Determination.

Drive.

Motivation.

Choose your own noun and place it here.

So why does it start with staying up late, and sometimes breaking the law, and kissing people you don't know well, and gorging on treats until the wee hours of morning?

Let's get into a little Mandi History.  I am the youngest child in my family, and so I was always the designated babysitter for my older siblings when they had their own children.  As far as I can remember, the first time I was allowed to stay up until midnight to welcome in the new year, I was babysitting my sister's small children.  It was a little disappointing.  Add into the fact that my parents woke us up at 6 AM every school morning, and in this way discouraged the ability to enjoy staying up late.

I can remember only one time in my entire life going out with friends for new year's.  It was really, really cold.

I read a book by Sharon Shinn last year in which they had a bonfire to welcome in the new year.  The story explained how the characters took things that represented some aspect of the old year and they burned them.  Then burned things that represented what they hoped for the new year.  Since I'm a closet pyromanic, this idea appealed to me.  We tried it last year, to less than stellar results.  Once again, it was really cold.  And our big, bright bonfire was reduced to a tiny spark in an abandoned charcoal grill.

This year, my husband and I said "Bag it" to the whole idea and I read my way into the new year while he played video games.  A friendly neighboring trailer park set off a round of illegal fireworks that rattled our windows.  At least I got a kiss.  It was from my husband.  The kids slumbered their way into 2013.

Call me a humbugger if you'd like, and you'd probably be right, but New Year's Eve is lame.

May 2013 be a better year than the one before it, and despite its uninspired birth, I wish you happy in it.