Posts Tagged ‘New’

I have never had any big New Year’s Eve Bashes or parties. I usually just celebrate the New Year with family and close friends after watching the Crystal Ball drop in Times Square. In the past we have shot a few fireworks at my parents’ house since they live outside city limits. This year, we celebrated the New Year in the Alaskan Northwest Arctic and, thankfully it was a very mild one. The temperature was around 20 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was calm.

Continue reading “An Arctic New Year” »

Last year, when everyone was ringing in the year 2011, I was sleeping. My 5 month old baby was sleeping 6-7 hours a night at the time and I would not miss an opportunity to get a somewhat decent night’s rest. I did make a resolution for the year 2011- I wanted to lose all of the baby weight that I had gained from my pregnancy by the next New Year.

That time has come, and…I failed. I did lose some weight and I slimmed down to an acceptable size for myself. Doing Dustin Maher’s BabyTone fitness DVDs really helped, but I only began those in November. So, like almost everyone else in the U.S., I am setting another weight loss / exercise goal for this New Year of 2012. I have resolved to:

1. Lose 5-10 pounds while gaining muscle mass.

2. Establish a healthy exercise routine and stick with it.

3. Incorporate the life changes that Dustin talks about in his book Fit Moms for Life.

4. Be more involved in my local church.

5. Be a blessing to everyone I meet.

Overall, I want to be healthy and happy while making everyone around me happy to have met me. If you want to live a healthier life this year, don’t forget to enter in my giveaway for Dustin Maher’s new book Fit Moms fore Life: How To Have Endless Energy to Outplay Your Kids. I have set resolutions to abide by during the year of 2012, hopefully with a positive report for next year.

Maybe I will actually stay up next year, since I didn’t this year or last. We did have sparklers and roman candles that we lit at 8 pm so Anneliese could enjoy them before she went to bed. She ran around the back yard squealing and had a grand time watching our measly fireworks display. I bought ginger ale and apple juice to mix together and drink when ringing in the New Year, but saved it for New Year’s Day to go with our ham, black-eyed peas and collard greens meal.

Hoping 2012 will be better than 2011! How were your New Year celebrations? Did you make any resolutions for 2012?

Are you getting ready to write some New Year’s resolutions and have fun ringing in the New Year? Before you do, I wanted to share some fun and interesting facts about New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations. You might be surprised at what you find out.

New Year’s Eve Traditions and History

Resolutions – Ringing in the New Year is not a modern day concept, and was even documented in Babylonian times as a period of great celebration. Along with the feasts and celebrations in Babylon came the custom of making New Year’s resolutions, the most popular of which during that time was returning borrowed farm equipment.

Since then, the date of the New Year has changed quite a bit, until it became established that January 1 would be the beginning of the New Year. The name January is derived from Janus, the name of the Roman god of beginnings. He is portrayed with two faces, one looks toward the future and the other looks back on the past.

Baby New Year – This tradition was begun in ancient Greece to celebrate the rebirth of their god of fertility. They would parade a baby around in a basket during their New Year’s celebrations.

New Year’s Song – Everyone has heard “Auld Lang Syne” played or sung at New Year’s celebrations, but how did it become the official New Year’s Eve song? Auld Lang Syne is a Scottish phrase that is translated as “old long since,” meaning “times gone by” and the words are reminiscent of remembering good times and good friends. It was a popular Scottish song and was even published in a book by the poet Robert Burns. Guy Lombardo of Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadiansheard the song being sung by Scottish immigrants and played it at the New York City New Year’s Eve party in 1929, making it famously popular as the New Year’s Eve song ever since then.

Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?
For auld Lang syne, my dear, for auld Lang syne,
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld Lang syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld Lang syne?
And here’s a hand, my trusty friend and gie’s a hand o’ thine
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet for auld Lang syne.

Good luck foods- If you want good luck in the coming year, then you should eat black-eyed peas (a tradition for good luck here in the south), ham (a symbol of prosperity), and cabbage (for prosperity and wealth) on New Year’s Day. But eating lobsters or chicken on New Year’s Day will bring a year of bad luck.

New Year’s Eve and Day Facts

312 Million- approximate population of people in the U.S. to ring in the New Year of 2012.

7% of those people will choose not to celebrate New Year’s Eve / Day.

62% will stay home to celebrate the New Year.

750 Million photos were uploaded to Facebook during the New Year’s Eve weekend in 2010.

Car Theft- More vehicles are stolen on New Year’s Day than on any other day, so keep your car locked and safe.

1907- year of the first New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square. It was 700 pounds and consisted of iron, wood and 100 lights.

11,875 pounds- weight of the Waterford crystal New Year’s Eve ball that is dropped in New York City’s Times Square.

More than 30,000 lights adorning this huge crystal ball.

“Let there be love”- the crystal ball theme for ringing in the year 2012.

Born on January 1 - Paul Revere, J. Edgar Hoover, Lorenzo de Medici, Betsy Ross and Pope Alexander VI

25% of people will abandon their New Year’s resolutions after only two weeks!

50% will give up their resolutions halfway through the year.

Wearing red underwear on New Year’s day is supposed to bring you good luck.

{sources: FactMonster.com, 2020 Site, Woodridge Patch, U.S. Census Bureau, Hallmark, History.com, Wikipedia.org}