Anyone have New Years traditions?
Growing up in NYC, my parents always had to have herring salad on New Year’s. Not sure why. We aren’t German. My sister, now living in Pennsylvania, always serves pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. Can’t say H and I actually have any.
Do any of you have traditions? And what are they?
No longstanding ones. We do, however, live in Asia where New Year’s Eve and Day are huge. So for the past four or five years we have gone to this one Asian supermarket and bought a variety of the treats that they have specifically for the New Year holidays.
Asian NYE treats! Yum! 
We traditionally have to have some kind of a dumpling! This year it will be Korean Potstickers from Costco with Trader Ming’s (lol) potsticker sauce and Siberian Pelmeny from the local Euro deli with butter - I am going with pre-made because I’m already sick of making all sorts homemade dumplings several days in a row. Sauerkraut, lingonberries, herring… Mr. B digs that stuff, so I bought some at the deli.
Black-eyed peas!
Champagne at midnight
Kind of like birthday wishes, we go outside (cold) and take in an overwhelmingly beautiful star lit night. We think to ourselves good thoughts or wishes and quickly each throw hand fulls of bird seeds into the mountains. Been doing this tradition about 10 years ago.
We always hang out at home with the kids. Funny thing, morrismm, my (Polish) mother always had creamed herring for the new year. No one else in the family liked it. She just got a little jar for herself every new year. We always do a jigsaw puzzle and try to finish before midnight. This is the only day of the year we do a jigsaw puzzle. (It’s my childhood family tradition. H thinks it’s boring …) Every Christmas my daughters make an elaborate gingerbread house…which we smash with a hammer at midnight Jan 1st. And we drink champagne (or sparkling juice), of course.
We do a big 6 course New Year’s day dinner with family and friends. Pork and sauerkraut are the traditional foods, along with shrimp appetizer followed by a caesar salad with a lemon sherbet afterwards and then the crab soup. After dinner are cookies and pies for desert. We started this first as a way to dress up the traditional pork and sauerkraut dinner and as a way to teach the kids to eat with fancy silverware, china and crystal, multiple courses and sustained conversation. They ran around a lot when they were young but as they got older they sat at the table longer and longer without needing a break, until they graduated to enjoying the entire dinner. It takes several hours.
My parents have a tradition of eating lentil soup at midnight - supposedly it brings you money in the new year.
A New Year’s Day walk on the beach. Before we had a place near it, our family would drive down to Sandy Hook in Monnmouth County for a walk on the beach there,then sometimes drive to see some of are favorite spots in the area(H and I grew up there but then moved away), then stop at the local diner we went to as teenagers. Now kids are grown and on their own, it’s usually just H and I taking a walk on a Cape May or Del. Bay Beach.
When I was a kid, we always went bowling on New Year’s Day. Hated it.
Now we make pork and sauerkraut. Although this year we are bucking the local good luck charm and baking a ham instead.
And then there’s football…
We’ve had a New Years Day chili fest for about 20 years now. Lots of friends and family, two kinds of chili and football, of course! When I was a kid my grandmother made us all eat dried herring at midnight - not sure why but we dropped that tradition as soon as reasonably possible.
We spend New Year’s Eve home with the kids. When they were younger, it was a treat to stay up past midnight. As they got older, they still spent the evening at home with us. We knew we had a good tradition when S1 turned down his HS friends to spend time with us ( who does that when they’re in HS?).
Now at 25 and 28yo, and with a DIL, they still spend the evening with us. The kids have always picked out the snacks and junk food we’ll have. We play games like Trivial Pursuit, Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity all evening. DH and I are lucky if we’re still up by 12:30am. It’s become a very nice family tradition.
We have to have black-eyed peas for good luck! Our favorite way of fixing them is Hoppin’ John. Cook up some diced bacon, pour off the fat and sauté some onions. Add a can of black-eyed peas (we like the ones with jalapeños). Add in cooked white rice. It’s better if it sits for a while for the flavored to blend. Yum. I’m tempted to make a double batch and have it for dinner tonight as well.
The local bakery had champagne cupcakes this morning - now THAT"S champaign I might enjoy!!! They looked delicious!
We started the tradition of saving our change all year long and then sorting and wrapping it all between NY Eve and Day. D is gathering the change and wrappers right now. When the kids were little we would use the $$$ to take a weekend trip or buy something the family agreed on. We still do the same thing now that the kids are big!
Wife and kids are up skiing today, so the usual big NYE dinner is unlikely.
January 1 is pajama day in our house. It’s a food free-for-all. We will sit in the family room eating off of the coffee table and watching bowl games. Staples include Ruffles and onion dip, Little Smokies wrapped in Pillsbury Crescent rolls, Buffalo-style chicken wings, and, our one tie to traditional New Year’s food, pickled herring.
Our two other superstitions, not always followed: wear something new and keep a coin in your pocket.
BC (before children), we hosted a NYE party … then began going to a big party at a banquet hall with friends. After kids, we would all work on a puzzle, drink sparkling cider, and do poppers at midnight. When they got older, H and S would do fireworks at midnight. Kids are grown & gone now … H and I continue the puzzle tradition, drink champagne, and struggle to stay up until midnight!
This year, we’ll add watching the MSU game …
Corned beef and cabbage has been our “good luck” New Year’s Day meal, since living in the south. Here in Toledo, it seems like everyone eats kielbasa on every major holiday.
Except for champagne at midnight we don’t have too many traditions. Partly because everyone around me seems to have so many! DH’s family had a lovely game night with two other foreign service families and all their assorted kids. Charades and the Dictionary Game were always part of it, and then other quicker games that involve more luck or at least fewer verbal skills for the younger kids. My Florida SIL always has Hoppin’ John and greens. My half Japanese SIL always makes us breakfast of propitious foods. We thought we’d have it this year, but her oldest needs to stay home and finish college applications. Procrastination runs in the family…
Champagne, Champagne for everyone!