I remember when I was a little girl; I couldn’t wait to be old enough to stay up for midnight on New Year’s Eve.  One year I had a girlfriend sleeping over and just before midnight we took pots, pans and wooden spoons from the kitchen, went outside and banged the heck out of them to make noise to celebrate the New Year.  Those pots and pans where dented beyond repair and my Mother was so mad that we had ruined them!!  (I wasn’t going to name names but … Sally!)  One of my New Year’s Eve traditions since I was a teenager is watching “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” every year.  The show always had the best pop and rock bands – and it was much cooler then the Guy Lombardo show that my parent’s watched!!

New Year’s morning I was always in front of the TV sitting on the floor in our living room watching the Pasadena Rose Parade – I loved the floats and enjoyed the marching bands.  I could never understand why it was such a big deal when the announcers talked about the great weather in “Sunny California” until we moved to the Midwest!   I must admit looking out the window at the snow and seeing the cold temperature on the thermometer, I am jealous of the warmer weather back home in California!  As a child watching the parade on TV, I wished that someday I could see the parade in person.  Finally I had my chance when the year of the 100th anniversary of the Rose Parade, my son and I left the house at 2AM and drove to Pasadena.  We camped out on Colorado Blvd with thousands of other people to watch the parade live – it was so exciting!  My next big wish was to actually work on a Rose Parade float.  A few years later I got the chance when my husband and I volunteered to be on the floral decorating crew of the AAA Southern California Auto Club float and we actually got to help decorate and put the flowers on their float – it was so cool!

Now that I’m older, on New Year’s Eve I’m lucky to stay wake and you will probably find me dozing off on the couch or sound asleep in bed before the clock strikes midnight!!

NEW YEAR’S TRIVIA

1. Since 1907, a crystal ball has been dropped in New York City’s Times Square.  The Waterford Crystal ball, weighing 11,875 pounds and measuring 12 feet in diameter, begins to descent at 11:59 PM and at the stroke of midnight it reaches the bottom and the crowds go wild in Times Square while millions of people watch on TV.  From 1981 to 1988, the ball was designed in the shape of a large apple to honor New York City’s nickname, the Big Apple.
2. From 1972 to 2011, Dick Clark has produced and hosted “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”.  Except for 2005, when he suffered a stroke in early December and his voice and mobility were severely affected so he was unable to be there in Times Square.  Ryan Seacrest was the substitute host that year and has remained as co-host and executive producer since then.  Dick Clark returned the next year and appeared on the show until sadly he died in April 2012 of a heart attack.  It will be a bittersweet celebration this year without him.
3. Father Time and Baby New Year have symbolized the yearly change for centuries and were often used in political cartoons.  Father Time is shown as an old bearded man dressed in a long robe, carrying a scythe, wearing a sash with the year ending across his chest and he symbolizes the year that is ending.  At the end of the old year and the start of the New Year, Father Time will hand over his duties to the brand new Baby New Year.  The Baby New Year is shown as an infant dressed in only a diaper, top hat and wearing a sash across his chest that shows the new year that is just starting.

Happy New Year!

Barbara Jones