A bit tongue in cheek... for whatever reason I find myself rarely motivated to go out and celebrate on the eve of the New Year. Part of this I think has to do with the nature of celebration in the world around me... I go out to a get-together and it's surprise surprise drinking and snacky foods with probable loud music and fun and interesting people in various stages of inebriation. That's all well and good certainly, but seems juxtaposed against the meaning of a celebrating and welcoming a New Year. Not to be a curmudgeon, but I feel like time spent in meditation and prayer, some healthful fasting or drinking of tea or juice or simple foods, in quiet reflection of the successes and failures of your past year, welcoming the new year with flexibility and grace, moving forward with goals and plans in an organized way from the first moment of this new time segment... not that I can't appreciate going out and getting a bit wasted, but isn't that better on a less meaningful day, when you're not celebrating the time ahead by destroying oneself and watching others do the same?
It's also strange as the meaning of the year has been lost; counting our cycle around the sun was what allowed us to manage crops and navigate by star, and the day we use to count in the new year is just kind of an irrelevant date with no celestial significance. At the turn of the solstice, we can begin the terran new year by welcoming the death and rebirth of the sun as the shortest day is reached and the days begin become longer. There would be a physical transition point sometime that day when the axial tilt begins moving you back toward the sun ever so slowly... rather beautiful when you think about it. Just works a lot better when you put the right meaning behind things at the right time, in my mind. Your mileage may vary!