What are you doing New Years Eve?

As a single girl, I've never had a problem going to parties by myself, eating out by myself, celebrating the little luxuries of life by myself.  But New Years is an entirely new problem.  

In highschool we celebrated girls only--staying up all night, gabbing, sharing secrets, and drinking way too much sparkling cider.  Then going and greeting the sunrise in the frosty parks of suburbia.

In college, we were all home on break, so we just wanted to see all our friends.  Sometimes the boyfriend (now husband) came along, but it was hugs all around, and usually parents celebrating too (if they could stay up that late...)--there were no romantic connotations.

But the picture is decidedly more frustrating today.  New Years becomes the night you share with a special someone, and the first thing you do to ring in the new year, is...kiss?  When did that become the best tradition around?  And what are we supposed to do about it?  Here are some alternate New Years traditions we might want to consider:

Russians put gold in their champagne.  With the price of gold right now, perhaps finding a sugar daddy is in order.  

In the South, fix up a bowl of black eyed peas.  Or not... 

In Spain, you eat 12 grapes in 12 seconds.  Each grape represents a month of the year, and every sour grape promises of a month of bad luck.  Since grapes aren't in season right now, I think I'd rather let the bad luck surprise me.

Of course, we could just be American, watching Dick Clark on a three hour time delay, banging pots and pans, pretending that we don't care that we don't have someone special to share the moment with.  Yep.  Let's start the year feeling sorry for ourselves.    

I don't think so.  So you don't have a special someone you love?  Celebrate with EVERYONE you love: family and friends, young and old--the people who'll be with you for the rest of your lives.  Don't forget to take a moment for yourself, drinking a cool dry glass of champagne, and promising yourself you'll do this more often.  Drink more champagne?  That's a new year's resolution I KNOW I can keep.

(Print by Alphonse Mucha for Moet Chandon Champagne.)