Namings, Weddings, and New Year's, oh my!

When I was a kid, I used to dread New Year’s. Not so much the day itself, but the retrospectives that heralded its coming. Commercial after commercial would advertise the replacement of perfectly good tv shows with clip after clip of people I didn’t recognize. Then the event itself would arrive, and I would sit on the couch smooshed between my grandparents, watching more clips of more people I didn’t recognize. “Such a tragedy,” my grandmother would say. “More ice cream?” my grandfather would respond. And I would nod piously as together they bemoaned the death of people I knew nothing about … although I was quite sure most of them must have been born several hundred years before I was.

Television retrospectives still aren’t my favorite part of the New Year’s celebration. Maybe it’s because I’m too young even now. Or perhaps I just don’t like the ignorance I feel when faced with montages of “famous” people I can’t identify.

But I do like the idea of celebrating lives. I like birthdays. And namings. And brisses, and Baptisms, and weddings (especially those that come with cute ushers). And New Year’s. I like New Year's. I like that with every 365 (or, yes, occasionally 366) days comes a new chance (and the champagne doesn't hurt either).