I am looking forward to the next year! Are there any new year traditions that you celebrate this time of year? Gatherings, foods, experiences?
Wishing everyone good health, peace, sanity and an abundance of positivity in 2024!
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Here in PA Dutch country, pork and sauerkraut is the Jan 1 tradition. Mom wonāt eat sauerkraut but Iāll prob make a nice pork roast.
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BK (before kids) weād party 'till after midnight. Ay yi yi!
AK (after kids) we used to dismantle the Christmas decorations on NYE while sipping something (kidās champagne or cocoa; for the roommate and myself, the good bubbly) and eating a bunch of appies (formerly hors dāoeuvres). The next day we would be ice skating, a bike ride, skiing or snowboarding, a hikeā¦something to get out into the new year with a big picnic lunch. Sometimes weād end the day with a fancy meal; others ended with a hot bath.
Nowdays, we try to get together outdoors on NYD, but no more special meals or celebrations. No more fine bubbly, either.
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For years, friends hosted an open house on New Years Day. They introduced me to spatchocked turkey. I used the occasions to make a big pan of pastitsio. They decided to stop the tradition a couple of years before the lockdown, and I havenāt made pastitsio since. I might revive it this year (in a much smaller pan).
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Japanese have Shogatsu, a celebration to welcome the new year. There are tridational foods and family favorites.
Host, family members and friends attend. Usually a card game happens and football game wagering, always a Rose Bowl pool.
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Back in Germany, NYE traditions abound - none of which I partake in anymore, and some of which are no longer legal: the lead in BleigieĆen has been replaced with the āhealthierā (and much lamer) wax recently 
Fireworks are bought with gusto and lit days leading up to and after NYE. Some of Berlinās nabes are like a war zone, actually, and best to be avoided, but if one can find a rooftop or hill to look at all the private fireworks itās quite beautiful. Thereās an abundance of sparkling wine (yah, we still do that), and everyone in the last century would sit down to watch āDinner for One,ā a dated yet popular British sketch on TV. Popular foods are fondue and raclette, or finger foods.
As for our personal traditions statesideā¦ we used to host a massive black tie event (bc we live in a college town & nobody ever gets to dress up for anything) for which weād rent a dance floor & champagne flutes, provide booze and finger foods, and dancing would go on until well after 3AM.
And while our friends and we still fondly reminisce about those swell soirƩes, the prep, hosting & cleanup of a party for 70+ folks every year gets old. Then covid happened and things got smaller overall.
We now host The Gang (our closest circle of friends) for small bites & a poker game, or go out on the town. The last couple of years, a good friend started hosting larger parties with dancing, and weāll be joining him again this year 
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like a war zone
That was what it was like in Amsterdam on the one NYE I spent there.
Parts of downtown Manhattan are the same. And July 4th is even worse. Or better, depending on how much you like explosives whizzing by your head.
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Our first year in the Netherlands, our landlords woke us up near midnight knocking on our door and dragged us out in our sleepwear into the neighborhood where people were setting off fireworks and drinking like crazy people. Many of the houses there had thatched roofs. Every year we read about fires and people who died. We were always concerned about our Aussies who got very spun up from the noise and were trapped in the house without us.
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I once spent NYE in Prague and I was literally afraid for my life.
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#hardcoreNYEinYURP 
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We lived around the corner from certain Hellās Angels and some years NYE were scarily similar.
I didnāt mention that the week between Christmas and the new year I get ready for the new year by:
ā¢ cleaning the house
ā¢ getting the car washed (hopefully not on a mushy,
slushy day!)
ā¢ getting some personal care appointments out of the way
ā¢ put the paperwork tasks, pay bills and such in order
ā¢ purchasing one new article of clothing or shoes
ā¢ taking some time for me, me & me
Then I can jump into the first week of the new year with somewhat of a clean start!
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A lot of Greek families in Toronto have a big meal on New Yearās Day, which happens to St Basilās day, so the name day for all the Vassilis, Vasilis, and many Bessies and Bills. ( I know Ernie knows this)
Iāve brought a Karidopita to a New Yearās Party. Sometimes we made galaktoboureko for NYD, when though Vasilopita would be the traditional cake for NYD.
Ernie does know this, because his mom is Vassilia, called Bessie. Yiayia made the vassilopita on her annual baking day before Christmas, along with koulourakia, kourambiedes, and (yes) phoenikia.
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Our Holiday baking was usually galaktoboureko, Karidopita, diples, baklava and kourabiedes. We would prepare them between Xmas and Jan 1, and deliver them sometime before Epiphany! Mostly so that people receiving the treats would have already finished their Canadian Xmas baked goods by New Yearās Day, and be ready for more baked goods!
I was just working on my 2024 budget and estimating my 2024 taxes.
Iām going to pull out my 2023 estimated tax payments and get a jump on my 2023 income taxes. The process always seems to go better if I do a little preliminary work on them before I actually do all the filings.
At some point after the 1st, Iāll step on the scaleā¦ see how much damage I did and start the process of losing weight. Ugh. 
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Jeez, now I feel even worse about my general tendency to loll about, not having a clue about what date or weekday it is, and doing almost nothing.
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Iāve been sleeping a lot, itās been raining the past couple of days and Iām bored. Havenāt been out of the house since Christmas Eve. Had to ask my husband what day of the week it was. I guess tomorrow is Friday.
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