The New Year's Spirit

New Year's is one of my canonized holidays, and I'm always looking for ways to make it special and distinct from Christmas. I have, however, become more comfortable with the overlap with Christmas as I've learned more about the holiday's history. Gifts were given for New Year's until that switched to Christmas in the nineteenth century. When Santa Claus traditions arrived in the US, he often arrived on New Year's, and stockings were likewise hung up for New Year's. And the first Christmas trees in the US were put up for New Year's.

There's a lot of talk about Christmas movies, but not so much about New Year movies. Last Sunday, I watched Ghostbusters II on Youtube TV. I only learned it was a New Year's movie last January. The movie is about my age, meaning I was a baby along with baby Oscar!

On Monday, I wanted to go to Taco Bell because they had a special Confetti Cookie Freeze. I would love to see more confetti-themed products for New Year's. Was this meant for the holiday? I don't know, but it did debut on December 18, and some of the promotional materials look like it. 

I dined in, and at first they forgot to give it to me with my food. NBD, but they gave me an extra one because of the mistake. So I took the second one home and froze it for the next day. I don't eat at Taco Bell that much, because they rarely have seasonal offerings.

On Tuesday, I ran up to the Wild Rose Trail in the dark, using my headlamp and the new lights I got for Christmas. There are two houses on the way where their coniferous trees are growing over the sidewalk, which drives me crazy. (If it's a deciduous tree, I just break the branches, but that's harder when there are needles.) I shouldn't have to duck when I'm running! So I bought two boxes of clearance candy canes, and I put notes on them asking the homeowners to trim the trees from the sidewalk. I put the candy canes on the doorsteps as I ran past. As of yesterday, one of the homes no longer had the candy canes on the step, but they haven't trimmed the tree. The other home still had the candy canes on the step, because I think they don't use their front door. And there was a moving truck as well, so maybe they're moving! This home has the more egregious tree.

Wednesday was New Year's Eve, and Chip Cookies had a special NYE cookie. But it was just a boring category 3 sugar cookie with gold sprinkles. Even though it was boring, I want to support things made specially made for this overlooked holiday. But associating gold with New Year's is, in my observation, a relatively recent phenomenon. When I started paying attention to New Year's in the late '90s, it was more often purple and blue, multicolor, or black and white. Gold is currently a popular color for birthdays and graduations as well.

I ran to the Wild Rose Trail again, the first time I've ever been trail running on New Year's Eve. There was a dusting of snow on either side of the trail, but the trail itself was pretty clear. The Garmin app gives you a special "badge" if you exercise on the last day of the year.

I just spent New Year's Eve with my parents. I learned about the movie The Thin Man from 1934, which takes place at Christmas and the days following, so we watched it. Though there were Christmas scenes, it was less holiday than I had hoped. My nephew and his wife, Preston and Claire, went downtown briefly, but they came home and stayed in "their" room all evening, coming out just before midnight. We had Trader Joe's sparkling lemonade.

And then I did something unique. I have never been trail running on New Year's Day, and this dry year was my chance. But it was supposed to rain throughout New Year's Day. The solution? I went running after midnight! I put on my headlamp and ran over to Springhill Geologic Park, which is just a small nature park nearby that I go to when I have less time. Does it count as a trail? Well, it's unpaved, it has wildflowers and maples and oaks, rabbits live there, and there are lots of volcanic rocks. I was able to hear fireworks as I ran, though I didn't see that many of them (I was more focused on not tripping). It was a unique way to start 2026. I ran 2.5 miles. And I got my badge for exercising on the first day of the year. (They tell me I can only earn the badges 250 times. So after 248 more New Year's Days, I can't get the badge anymore!)

New Year's Day was foggy, which was what I hoped it would be—so that was refreshing, after the unseasonable November and December. We had our traditional dinner with my mom's extended family at Golden Corral, which my grandpa loved.

That day, I learned that the sequel to The Thin Man, called After the Thin Man from 1936, was actually set at New Year's. So we rented it and watched it. The first half of the movie took place on New Year's Eve, and the rest of the movie was the aftermath of NYE happenings, though it wasn't clear how long the time period was. These were pretty good murder-mystery movies, but they required a lot of concentration, since it was hard to tell the differences between the various characters and their 1930s styles.

Then January 2, Preston and Claire returned to California. This is the saddest time of year for me. I ran Wild Rose again in the evening, and it was extremely muddy after the rain.

Yesterday, January 3, I ran near Ensign Peak. Parts of the trail were very muddy, though parts were good. I didn't go on Ensign Peak itself, because that trail looked muddy. But I discovered the South Ensign Peak Trail, which was newer to me.

As I was running up the dirt road, there was a man running down with his dogs, and he said, "Have a great run! Enjoy your October!" It was funny but also sad. Will it ever be winter again?

There was a wildfire a year and a half ago, and this was my first time seeing parts of the aftermath

Yesterday, I went to the Toyota dealer for regular maintenance. I sat in the waiting area reading Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays, the chapter about the rise of Valentine's Day in the US. The technician broke one of the nuts when they were fixing my alignment, so they gave me a rental car while they wait for parts. It's the first time I've had a rental! It's a Corolla, which used to be one of the default cars when I was a missionary. But it's much newer and nicer than the 2000s Corollas.

We're still recovering from Christmastime. Today I made split-pea soup with the leftover ham bone, which is pretty good. 

I hope you enjoy your January! If it ever comes.