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10 Things I Love About New Year

Hi everyone.

Happy New Year!

If you read my previous post 10 Things I Hate About Christmas you can rest assured that this post is much more upbeat because yes, although my name is still Melissa...I love New Year! And here’s why


1. It’s A Blank Page

Most people seem to hate January but it’s actually my favourite month. Maybe that’s because it’s my birth month but mainly I like it because it’s the start of a whole new year. Although as a writer, having to face the dreaded “blank page” can often feel scary, when it comes to the blank page of a new year, I’m all for it.


2. It’s A Fresh Start

Whatever sort of year you’ve just had whether it was good, bad or frankly indifferent, New Year provides the perfect opportunity for a re-set. Although it might only signify a change in the calendar, there’s always something about this time of year that can allow you to feel more positive and more optimistic. It’s a chance to put the past behind you and start over, even if that only lasts until the second week in February.


3. There’s No Pressure

Unlike Christmas which can bring with it more stress than the rest of the year put together, New Year is much more relaxed. And as long as you can manage to sleep through all the fireworks and navigate the last few pages of the bumper issue of the Christmas TV Guide, you can pretty much ignore it altogether.


4. There’s No Cost

Again, unlike Christmas which you can still be paying for in the middle of July, New Year doesn’t really have to cost anything. Invite yourself to a party and you won’t have to pay for any booze. No turkeys ever get basted in the name of New Year and if you want fireworks, just open your curtains any time from about 3pm on the 27th December.


5. Christmas Is Over

I refer the Right Honourable Lady to my previous blog post 10Things I Hate about Christmas.


6. You Can Make Resolutions

Even though we all know that they never last much longer than Twelfth Night, we still love to make them. Whether they involve all the usual suspects like more exercise, less alcohol, more holidays, less stress, more time spent with the family or less time spent with the family, they are a kind of promise to ourselves that we can at least try to be a better person.

7. It’s Time To Party

New Year parties can be anything you want them to be. There are no rules. So if you want to Go Large and dress up with all your friends as characters from Game of Thrones and dance all night to Now That’s What I Call Music 1987, you can. But if you just want to sit on the sofa in the fluffy pyjamas your Nan bought you for Christmas and watch Jools Holland while sipping a glass of Vimto, that’s absolutely fine as well.


8. You Can Snog A Stranger

Let’s face it, the stroke of midnight on the first of January is without question the only time of year that you can (consensually of course) kiss someone you only met at ten to twelve without getting arrested. And unlike the Christmas kiss, it probably won’t involve your Great Auntie Mabel or a sprig of a parasitic plant that is spread by bird poo.


9. You Can Stay Up All Night

Even if you are under the age of eleven, there’s something about New Year that can make even the most regime-orientated of parents be a bit more relaxed when it comes to bedtime. And for a night-owl like myself, it’s really the only time of the year that I can stay up until the early hours of the morning, like I normally do, without being judged for it.


10. It’s Not Christmas

Need I say more?


Have a great 2023.

Melissa



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