This year, the general holiday advice was to stay at home and not mingle. Sure, a small visit with one or two friends or family members was accepted, but only if it could be done within the same town to prevent travel and extra mingling. This posed no real problem for me, as I really do not have strong traditions that I feel a need to uphold. Moving around throughout my life has made it easy to release any traditions - is the Christmas Eve dinner really worth the extra cost and time off to not just fly in on Christmas Day? Should I stay up until midnight when I am jetlagged after travelling halfway around the world and waiting to get a replacement bank card while I have virtually no cash?
Although sometimes I long for the traditions and cheerfulness that others seem to have, I am grateful that I am not beholden to some crazy idea with no really meaning or significance. When the government says "chill out and in a few months you can do whatever", it is easy to just play video games and bike hundreds of kilometers instead of trying to find a way to hold onto some event, or foregoing the appeal to stay home and travelling around the world. I was less stunned by people trying to gather for Christmas, as it might be one of the few times a family can get together, but I was amazed this morning by the people who could not avoid a party to ring in the new year. It is cold, fireworks are as legal as they are other times of the year (not at all), and cozying up on a couch with a movie and champagne instead of water is lovely. I am not so frustrated at the actions, but more astonished that so many people put meaning into a particular day.
It is a nice excuse to party, but other than that, it is just a day. It was nice, however, to experience the morning as a point where night turns into day instead of the complete quiet recently, so I am looking forward to that again when the world gets back to normal.