Happy New Year!

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I can’t believe it’s almost New Year’s Eve! Thank you so much for spending time here with us this year. Your stories in our comments section lift us up, and we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedules to hang out here. Wickeds, do you have any New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day traditions?

Julie: They have evolved over time. These days New Year’s Eve is introspective. This year I’m planning on doing a vision board, having a nice meal, and toasting 2023. New Year’s Day is a family dinner of some sort, but VERY low key. I’m grateful that my nieces are home from college, and one of my nephews is visiting next weekend, so the holidays are being stretched out. Happy New Year to all!

Barb: Our weird New Year’s Eve tradition is to spend it in the Fort Lauderdale Hilton. Our lease in Key West starts January 1, and we drive down the Keys the next day. It used to be a luxurious celebration in the hotel with room service and cocktails, but as the pandemic and staff shortages have altered things, now it’s delivery pizza. Last year there was an amazing fireworks display all up and down the beaches of Fort Lauderdale which I could see from our hotel window.

Edith/Maddie: I live with a New Year’s Eve grouch, who goes to bed at the usual time (well before midnight). Some years I have gathered a group of women friends to play games and eat and share the celebration, but not this year. One tradition I follow is to put away Christmas – tree, decorations, the lot – before New Year’s Day. I like to start the year fresh, although I do leave the electric candles in the windows for another few weeks, because they light up the dark.

Liz: I’ve been enjoying making up new traditions pretty much every year over the past few years as things change! I usually like a low-key NYE though – snuggling with the furbabies and maybe doing a vision board.

Sherry: Like Edith, I’m usually up by myself ringing in the New Year. I always think I’ll make Hoppin’ John and greens for New Year’s Day, but I’ve only done it once.

Edith: Sherry, we could have a zoom champagne toast together!

Sherry: Great idea!

Readers: How about you? Do you have any New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day traditions?

Published by Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Mystery series.

42 Thoughts

  1. We’re night people, so staying up isn’t a problem. We generally read in the evening, so close to 12 we turn on the tube and watch the ball drop while having a glass of bubbly grape juice and give each other a big smooch. Then we turn off the tube and go back to reading. We live such exciting lives. At our age, we are just delighted to be here together to see in another new year.

    HAPPY NEW YEARS to all the Wickeds and to all the readers of this wonderful blog.

  3. Happy New Year everyone! I have stopped the partying that I used to do. Years long habit. However, I tend to do the resting and brain resetting between Christmas and New Year’s so the evening is almost just a quiet and peaceful time. However, come January 1st I am up and running in the New Year with those mental goals I have thought about and a new calendar to start. I guess it is really rest and reset time and it brightens the start of a new flurry of thoughtful activity and opportunity to look forward to.

  4. Weā€™ve taken to celebrating New Yearā€™s at Greenwich Mean Time. Canā€™t manage to stay up to celebrate when the ball drops in Times Square. But itā€™s late enough in the day to break out the bubbly! And a New Yearā€™s Day hike.

    1. I love that, Vida! We used to do that when Elizabeth was little — not Greenwich Mean Time, but we’d watch the ball drop in NYC no matter the time zone.

  5. Sherry, I have a super easy and yummy recipe for Hoppin’ John stew, if you want it. New Year’s Day is the one day each year I make it, and I don’t know why I don’t make it more often. So yeah, Hoppin’ John and chard is my big tradition. As for NYE, we’re like Edith’s husband and turn in at our regular early hour. We used to go out, attend parties with friends, but these days, we’d be asleep in a corner somewhere if we tried!

    Happy New Years, everyone!

  6. I am not a party-goer, so I stay home and read and/or watch tv, and have a few snacks. My dog gets freaked out by the fireworks going off, which is another reason I stay home. On New Yearā€™s Day, my nephew and I usually go out to eat. I am not a fan of black-eyed peas but I usually buy some canned ones and eat a small spoonful for luck.

  8. Christmas Eve is my Dad’s birthday. As a child, it was decided to not have a big celebration meal on Christmas so Mom could enjoy the festivities along with everyone else instead of being stuck in the kitchen. We would fix sandwiches with a choice of anything you could possible think of, an assortment of chips and dips and then enjoy all the Christmas goodies. New Year’s Eve was the time for the big turkey dinner with all the trimmings and a special cake for Dad’s birthday. He always laughed and he had the biggest and best birthday dinner. Miss him terribly. He would have been 103 tomorrow. But New Year’s Eve is to reflect back on the past events and among them are always the sweet memories of the past year and the past New Year’s Eves bringing back such sweet memories.

    We aren’t one to go out on New Year’s Eve and as for staying up, it depends on the events of the day and if the body will hold out. LOL

    Through the years it was New Year’s Day that the Christmas tree came down and all the decorations got put up. Now it’s just hubby and I and after downsizing, that won’t take near as long.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  10. When we were young we used to make dinner reservations and eat prime rib on New Year’s Eve then go home and watch the ball drop. Now we don’t really do anything special. It’s too dangerous to go out anyway. There are drunks on the road at four in the afternoon. They start early I guess.

  11. I was hoping to do something different this year, but it doesn’t look like the plans will come together. So I’ll be at home watching movies until midnight, and then going to bed after my neighbors stop shouting, about 12:10 or so.

    1. I should point out I usually go to bed around midnight, so staying up that late isn’t a big deal to me any more. But I know not to go to bed earlier since my neighbors would wake me up if I tried.

      1. We’ve been noisy a time or two on NYE. When we moved to Shalimar, Florida our new neighbors told us they knew we’d be fun because we were out at midnight banging pans together and shouting. Funny how only ONE set of neighbors mentioned that — LOL!

  12. Black-eyed peas and greens are a firm New Year’s Day tradition after a quiet NYE at home with a glass of wine. It’s an inexpensive and tasty way to usher in a bit of luck! I often make sauteed spinach to go with the peas because I can’t always find greens such as chard or collards in organic form or in good condition this time of year. You can add tomatoes and spice it up as much as you like with seasonings.

  13. Sherry — I’m working my way through your Sarah Winston Garage Sale mysteries and enjoying them quite a bit.
    Happy New Year to you and all the Wickeds!

  14. We stay up till the ball drops. I make a pork roast for luck and kolbassi because my mom always had it. Pretty low key. We keep the tree up to Jan 6 at least.

    1. We are making a pork roast tomorrow, but I didn’t know it was for good luck! I like to leave the tree up too! It’s so dark this time of year.

  15. Happy Mew Year, everyone! Normally, we ring I’m the new year at home, and watch the ball drop with a glass of champagne. Nobody has to drive, so it’s fun and safe. Cheers?

  16. I used to cook a yummy meal to be eaten at midnight and begin reading a carefully chosen new book at 12:01am on New Year’s Day. These days, I’m lucky to keep the eyelids open long enough to see the ball drop, with yummy dinner now served earlier at real people time. The new book is still begun on NYD, but with breakfast. šŸ™‚

  17. My family’s New Year’s traditions is eating sour kraut & Pork on New Year’s Day and having the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations down before Jan. 1 of the new year so you have good luck in the next year (an old Irish tradition). I’m part Irish.

  18. I have always shared some time NYE with my Mom either by phone or in person. Since she is declining, she is not answering the phone much anymore. She will probably sleep through New Years celebrations. I am not sure what new traditions, my husband and I will make. I know I will be monitoring the score for the Peach Bowl tomorrow night. We do not get the television channel the game is on. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you. Happy New Year.

  22. We eat Black eyed Peas and sometimes cornbread every New Year’s Eve. No Christmas lights can be left on after New Year’s Eve, according to Hubby Dearest. The tree can stay up but cannot be lit. I do not remember what we did as I was growing up for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day!

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