Oh my. Not only is there Christmas stuff all over the place already (since before Halloween, actually) but I've actually overheard people discussing New Year's Eve plans. Wow. Didn't that stuff used to wait until at least after Thanksgiving?
Still, it made me ponder the whole NYE thing. How often do people start planning over a month ahead of time, just to watch the clock move? (Ok, once a year, but that's not the point.)
Growing up, I had this romantic, glamorous vision of New Year's Eve. (Especially before I was allowed to stay up till midnight.) Based on what I gathered from TV and movies, grown-up would dress up in tuxedos and ballgowns and attend fancy parties with an orchestra. There would be champagne and fancy hor d'oeuvres and plenty of balloons and confetti. Definately confetti. Plus horns and hats and bells..... I would sit at home, watching the ball drop with Dick Clark and drinking egg nog, and I would imagine the day that I would be living that glamourous life.
Now I am a grown-up (or so they tell me) and I don't do any of that. Neither does anyone I know. Most NYE parties I have been to have involved sitting around someone's apartment, chatting on the couch and eating snacks until midnight, then everyne yawns and goes home. They are fun, but certainly not the fantasy. This is Madison, Wisconsin...not exactly swank party central. To quote Lewis Black, "Oh, that's when we drink with hats on." I'm sure there are a couple of those black tie parties around here somewhere, but they are hugely expensive affairs attended by doctors, lawyers, politicians....not my people. Even NYE parties at crummy bars seem to be at least $50 a head, and based on the concept of wall-to-wall drunks. Ew. I'll take a quite roomful of friends over a ballroom of stuffy Republicans or a barroom of obnoxious drunkards any day.
Yet still, the fantasy remains. Something out of When Harry Met Sally or The West Wing. I guess that is why they call it fantasy. Pickled herring anyone?
