Gary Brown: Ringing in 'old' New Year
"No plans for New Year's Eve. Probably a quiet dinner with the kids. Maybe we can stay awake until midnight ... HA!"
Those were the emailed words of a dear friend of mine as Christmas Day passed and the New Year's celebration approached. And by "dear" I mean old. I mean my age.
We went to college together and graduated more than 50 years ago. Those were the days we stayed up late. We attended New Year's Eve parties with friends and family. We socialized without yawning or motioning with nodded heads to our loved ones that "we should get going."
We've kept in touch over the years. But, I've noticed that calls or emails come earlier now. Meals shared have become lunches instead of dinners.
New Year's Eve really is an early evening celebration and not a late night one.
If a guy can't stay awake in his favorite reclining chair while watching an action movie, what are the odds he's going to be able to keep from sleeping with his mouth wide open – unaware of the countdown – when the New Year's ball drops in New York's Times Square?
Nil? None? No chance? This aging alliteration is obvious to all of us old guys.
Past celebrations are memorable
As with most young men grown old, I vaguely can remember my past New Year's Eves. I spent most of them doing something that seemed exceedingly special.
A lot of the activities, of course, were gatherings of young friends that, except for the midnight bottle of champagne, closely resembled any other party held on a day that didn't usher in a week, much less a year. Granted, we watched early episodes of "Saturday Night Live" instead of a "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve” with Ryan Seacrest on those everyday occasions. But, we still got ourselves to midnight without dozing off.
I can remember going snow skiing on New Year's Eve a handful of times. For the sake of not breaking bones, the champagne wasn't poured until our bindings were loosened and our boots were unbuckled.
Couples attended New Year's Eve stage productions on other New Year's Eves, preceded by dinners and followed by receptions at which coming years were toasted. Again, however, we could go to a play on any weekend and most weekdays without a year having passed.
We attempted to theme our New Year's Eve parties toward the arrival of a new year by dressing up a bit more than for normal get-togethers. But, "Sunday best" attire is not the dead giveaway of a special occasion, at least not to the point that our clothing on Halloween shouts "Halloween is being celebrated here!"
We could have been attending a wedding reception, without the band or disk jockey, or anybody having to say "I do."
The point is, though, we were celebrating. We were awake. We were waiting with wide eyes for the new year to be rung in and us heading off re-energized and renewed.
The closest we get to that kind of "ringing in" moment at my age and my friend's age is when the alarm goes off in the morning and we wake up and stretch.
Old people celebrating
Still, we mean well. We are engaged in acknowledging the new year.
Indeed, people of my age, with aches and pains and other medical problems that come with it, often are the most eager to get the old year behind us.
If there was a pill to take for the New Year, we'd have it in the appropriate slot of our medication dispenser.
What I'm saying is we want to celebrate New Year's Eve. We usually intend to celebrate the holiday. We often just do it at home these days.
We begin to watch Ryan's "Rockin' Eve.” And we stay up until we feel tired. Then we turn in after we tell our weary selves that "We'll watch the rest of this in bed."
Right. Not likely. In the emphasized upper-case word of my friend, "HA!"
Actually, a neighbor who hosts a New Year's Eve party for people of a certain age has what I consider the most effective method of ringing in any new year.
She times her TV to record one of Ryan's recent "Rockin Eve" countdowns while she's sleeping, recapturing it occasionally to keep it relatively current. She has the most up-to-date recording on hand. She plays it at 8 p.m. A countdown is heard. A ball drops. A toast is offered. And all her guests go home.
Everyone she invites to her parties starts off the new year really rested.
Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com. On X (Formerly Twitter): @gbrownREP.
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Gary Brown: Ringing in 'old' New Year
