What are the words again? (The New Years 2011 Post)

Hey all!

One more holiday post before the season is over. New Years is fast upon us and frankly I think its a bit under appreciated. We all have Christmas traditions that we celebrate and cherish; be it trimming the tree, what time we open presents, or even wacky things like Secret Santa or holiday poems. Yet I think we forget some of the traditions that we all have on New Years.

I know what you might say. "But Dennis, we don't have New Years traditions! After all, we spend that time with different people, in different places, under different circumstances each year."

Traditions are for the weak Cratchit! Now back to work!

Well, I politely disagree. I think there is an abundance of New Years traditions that many of us celebrate each year that we tend to gloss over. Partially because they are not our proudest moments, partially because they're not something we "plan" on doing, we forget that regardless they tend to occur every New Years Eve.

Without further ado, here are four New Years traditions that many of us celebrate without even knowing.

1. Forgeting the words to Auld Lang Syne

That's right. I'm calling out everyone on it. I do not believe a single person knows the correct words to Auld Lang Syne. Every year I see the same thing happen. The ball drops, cheers, and kisses occur. Merriment is had by all. Then someone tries to pull out Auld Lang Syne. According to what I've heard over the years it goes something like this.

"Should all our friends have been forgot..."
"Are never brought to mind..."
"Something something"
"Auld Lang Syne"

"uh... cup of something..."

"Auld Lang Syne!"

And that's if your lucky enough to be with people who actually know the title is "Auld Lang Syne" not "Old Lang's Eyes" or something like that. I'll admit, the song's rather old and it's a dying tradition, but seriously, people sing it like its Louie Louie.



"We gotta go! Ay yay yay yay!"



I suppose it is just tradition to butcher a tradition.

For the record the lyrics are something like this. (just don't cite me on them!)



2. Being "too festive"

You know what I mean... 

There is not a single safe for work picture of intoxication on the internet.

Whether it be "a bit too much Champagne" or some other form of overindulgence, New Years is the holiday we tend to take too far. It is the end of the year, I guess we feel the need to make things as over the top as posssible. New Years resolutions play into this as well. After all, if your resolution is to lose 15 pounds, I'll give you 3 to 1 odds that you are just stuffing your face on December 31st. This too festive idea is more than just food and drink either. Case in point:

I'm pretty sure that unless you are over the age of 65, holiday sweaters have been classified as a War Crime by the UN. Everyone has one aunt, uncle, or relation that loves these things. This is too festive (I don't even care if your "being ironic").

In summation, excess seems to be a part of the New Years celebration, much like Fat Tuesday; by comparison, you never seem to hear someone go "Oh man, that 4th of July Party was just crazy!"

Except maybe this guy

3. Noisemakers

I'm just going to go ahead and say it: Noisemakers are the vuvuzelas of the holidays. I don't know where they come from, someone always has them, and good lord are they obnoxiously loud. Whether its blowing them into someone's face or ears, they are the one tradition that we need to slowly and quietly put down.

All vuvuzela jokes expire by 12/31/10 - get them in while you can

4. Late Xmas Presents

As if New Years wasn't awesome enough, it is also a time when you get even more stuff. Often you find yourself going to visit relations or friends that you haven't seen in a while. This of course means...

Hi

Now I DO NOT condone thinking of your relations as giant dollar signs, but it is pretty cool that often New Years becomes Christmas 2.0. Often, depending on the party, it is more about Christmas than the New Year. Hopefully you too bring some presents as well, to spread the Holiday cheer!

I know they're not strictly tradition, but these things tend to show up time and time again. In the end, that's what makes a holiday great, we love the reason for the holiday, but its the traditions that we remember, cherish, and value.

On one final note, I just wanted to give a friendly warning to my family whom I will be seeing this New Years. My sister Mickey read my post about snowballs. Meet my new Christmas gift:

Happy Holidays