I am starting to believe there are two types of people in the world: those who enjoy and really get into holidays and those who do not. I am also starting to believe I am second type. I know plenty of people who are the first type, however, and they continue to be a bit of a puzzlement to me. Yes, I enjoy Christmas and I enjoy parties and I kind of see where the fun in holidays can be but what I cannot see is why people get so involved in holidays.

I was married to a woman who was very into holidays. She was particularly fond of Christmas. I have always had a soft-spot for Christmas. How can you not like a holiday that involves presents? I even used to enjoy decorating when I was a kid. My ex-wife was very into decorating. As I grew older the desire to spend hours and hours hanging up lights and dragging tree parts or entire trees into my living room and putting up ornaments just seemed like a lot of work for just one day.

I think the same thing can be said for weddings. I am guessing there are two types of people here and they are people who love weddings and people who do not. While I certainly went through one I wonder about going through a second one at times. Again it seems like a huge amount of money and planning and setting up for things only for it all to be over so fast you are left with your head spinning and your stomach in knots. All anyone really wants to do is get to the party and the couple is more worried about the wedding night then the wedding day and that’s the way things really are and if someone tells you different then you know that’s a couple that may have problems.

I think the holiday that has the least fun attached to it would be New Years Eve. I have never, even as a kid, been a fan of New Years Eve. When you are younger you can’t really participate in parties. If your parents were like mine you could maybe make it until midnight before being immediately shuffled off to bed or you were sent to bed around 10 and really the entire point was lost. If you are like my parents then you can barely make it to ten o’clock now on a regular night even when there isn’t some kind of holiday attached to it.

For the past several years my New Years Eve was spent working at a radio station. I loved doing that. You pretty much had to the place to yourself and you had an entire radio station at your fingertips. I usually was asked to do some kind of countdown and request show. One of the best times was when a caller called to tell me he felt the city of Rockford should institute some kind of cheap public transportation for the night of New Years Even program. You know, like some of the larger cities do. I had to inform him that while I was on the radio I didn’t have the mayor in the studio with me and he might as well start some kind of letter-writing campaign.

It just seems to me that New Years Eve is a holiday where the entire purpose is to get drunk and then wear funny hats. If that’s the kind of thing that you are into I guess I have no right to stop you but it really doesn’t do much for me. I am the one who sits there looking at the throngs in New York and wonders how anyone could really have a good time while smashed in so close to a billion other people. I also don’t understand why watching a round object slowly descend down a pole is fun.

For me New Years Eve was always about hanging out with a few friends. When I look back at the parties and gatherings I have attended I always end up remembering the quiet dinners I had with friends in St. Louis rather than the large parties where no one could hear anyone and it was so hot you thought you might burst into flames. Of course if that happened most people would probably assume it was part of the celebration and just cheer and wonder why you weren’t descending a pole. I also greatly enjoyed the two New Years Even concerts I attended so far where a group called The Flaming Lips played.

This year I actually look forward to spending the night here at home, probably alone and probably one where I will be asleep by 11. Really I could stay up and celebrate with New York and then go to sleep. What’s one hour? Is it really that big of a deal that it hasn’t technically become midnight here in Chicago?

Again, it all seems like a big deal for something that is over with so quickly that it makes little sense to me. There is a lot of decorating for other holidays. I have yet to see any New Years Eve lights or trees or bags that you fill with leaves. I am guessing that the decorations makers and the card makers have not gotten around to the idea of commercial possibilities when it comes to New Years Eve. I am guessing if you want to make a fortune you should find a way to start your own line of New Years Eve decorations and market them so soon everyone will have New Years Eve lights and lawn bags.

I guess I am not a holiday guy. I am willing to bet you there are a lot of people out there who are not holiday people. I am particularly angry with the holidays that seem to be entirely invented by card people those people who make candy and such. I am talking about holidays like Valentine’s Day which is a holiday I despise with such a passion that others have been frightened when I have talked about it. Of course there is also Sweetest Day which is the most ridiculous and obviously fake holiday in the creation of holidays.

I think there should be holidays that would make the world more fun. There should be a holiday where you are allowed to tell your boss to go screw him or herself without there being a risk of being fired. I wonder about a day where nudity is not only allowed but encouraged but afraid too many people who should not be naked, including myself, will end up walking around instead of gorgeous people which is what you would really want to see. How about a day just for sitting at home watching movies or another one for sitting at home and reading? I would suggest a day where people are required to attend their own private film festivals or watch movies created before 1964. I would also like a day when comic book geeks are allowed to rule the world and not be mocked but that may be too much to ask for.

Mostly I think New Years Eve should be a little bit about reflection. It should be a look back at the world that was and a look ahead to ways to make the upcoming world better. Instead too many people will drink themselves into oblivion and forget everything that went before and uncaring about what is coming up next. Then again, what do I know? I’m just a crank.

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is a great book to put in your new year reading list and can be found in print and eBook format at www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.