It’s nearly that time of year again. In your stomach there are fizzing bubbles of anticipation, mixed with the warmth of alcohol. A feeling that there is an eventful night out awaiting. An unstable promise of that perfect midnight kiss to welcome the New Year. I’ve had my fair share of drunken midnight kisses. If I were to describe most of them, I would use the words ‘forced, embarrassing and for one night only’.

So in more recent years, I’ve stopped spending my New Year’s Eve with drunk disappointments. Instead, I travel to visit my family in Glasgow. There I’m met with hundreds of people in late-night street parties, sharing mulled wine and blasting cheesy Christmas music. As my birthday is January 1st, my aunt bakes a giant cake every year for the whole street party to share. When the golden ball drops, everyone erupts into cheers and shouts of ‘Happy New Year’s!’ Strangers wish me ‘Happy Birthday’, creating an ecstatic atmosphere of laughter and celebration. An atmosphere that harbours a euphoric feeling of love and secure community.

This way of celebrating the New Year takes me back to a more childlike era of my life. My festive escape from the everyday. It softens the scary reminder that time is moving on and bringing unfamiliar changes. If you ever have the chance to step away from New Year club nights or even stay in, I recommend trying to find a community that brings everyone together for New Years. If you’re struggling to see it, a useful resolution could be to remove the often-superficial pressure of dating. Take a few moments this upcoming year to be grateful for the love (friends, family or pets) already in your life!

Words by Zoe Rayner

Making Midnight Magical

I’m embarrassed to admit that last New Year’s Eve, as I watched the last hours of the year escape me, all I could think about was how I wanted to do more than just watch fireworks. I wanted to feel them.

“My midnight must be magical,” I thought.

Although the extravagant firework displays were a delight, as per our Filipino family tradition, they did nothing to dissuade my desperation. All I could do was conjure up all my crushes of the past year. However fleeting or displeasing, I couldn’t help but imagine the perfect kiss at midnight.

Loud cheers and banging of pots brought me back to reality. Pinoy paputok, no better way to ring in the New Year.

It was only then that another kind of ringing grabbed my attention. The ringing of my phone. A group call from my friends. We had all been sequestered with our families for the holidays, scattered about in different countries. But even my questionable cell service didn’t stop me from picking up.

A ludicrous idea was then proposed: that we stay on call and share our New Year’s so we could celebrate four separate times. I was hours ahead of them, astounded by the intellectual loopholes that they had created. But I’d never felt more loved. They thought of me, met me where I was and wanted to be all together in that moment.

I think there is something to be said about new beginnings. We enter it looking for love. But we need to remember, despite whatever the New Year has ahead, that this love we look for comes in so many different forms.

To my dear friends, time zones away from me, you are the magic I will feel this New Year. And all the years to come.

Words by Inez Lanueva

Featured image courtesy of Ian Schneider on Unsplash. No changes have been made to this image. Image licence found here.