Whether you will put it up at a New Year's Eve party or toast in the new year in front of the fireplace, many people have customary ways to usher in the new year. We spoke with several people around San Diego who shared their New Year's tradition. I am Dennis Doyle. I am from San Diego. My best buddy and I do a walk through Balboa Park. We have done this every single year. We reflect on the year that has passed and we set goals for the coming year. We hold each other accountable. We have done this without fail every single year, even for a while he moved up to Seattle and then he moved back. We so, time to do this every year without oil. It is quite remarkable. My name is Natasha Papousek. I am from Lemon Grove. My New Year's tradition comes in the South and I'm pretty sure it's from all over the South, but I grew up in Tennessee. New Year's Eve was just New Year's Eve but on New Year's Day, that was when we really had fun. My mom would make a big ham, and then we'd have green -- greens and cornbread and black-eyed peas. There was always a penny in the black-eyed peas and whoever got the penny had good luck for the whole year. My name is Shanise Alyson. I am from Southeast San Diego. One of my New Year's Eve traditions is to watch the sunset and make New Year's resolutions. My name is Jacquie Lowell and I am from San Diego. What I will be doing on New Year's Day is sitting under a tree asking for divine guidance for the coming year. What I am doing -- what am I doing now that I should stop doing? What am I not doing that would be good to start doing? What other guidance for the year ahead? It started several decades ago when I started spending fall and winter weekends hiking in the Kia Marcos, getting out of my left brain and into my senses, enjoying the smells of the pine and eucalyptus, the sounds of birds and sometimes the occasional deer. The Japanese call it for speeding and that became a ritual of choice for New Year's Day. One New Year's sitting on my favorite rock overlooking the beautiful Vista, the wilderness, I was inspired to ask for divine guidance for what -- for that year and the answers that came to me turned out to be so useful. I am Pete Bohmer and I am from Olympia, Washington. I lived in San Diego a long time ago. This was in the 70s were a lot of people were very active around challenging racism, challenge the war in Vietnam. I lived in Ocean Beach. We tried to stop some of the developers there and fought against police brutality. I now live in Washington and I came back to see friends of mine, all of them who were very active during this period. Many of them are still very active today, have not given up, have not sold out. A particularly on New Year's Eve, I try to think that I am not in prison. There are many people in the United States who are political prisoners challenged racism, challenge any quality, challenge US intervention abroad. Many of them are doing long sentences. I try to think about them. I often write to them. I toast to them every New Year's Eve. My name is Patricia Fishtein . Our New Year's Eve tradition is one that we started a while ago after my daughter had visited France for the first time. We were living in New Jersey and wanted to do something special that involve everyone. Somehow we decided on rack late dinner which is either French or Swiss. 25 years later, my kids are still in New Jersey, but I am in San Diego in a house with a real fireplace, still making that dinner on our New Year's Eve with my new companion. Nontraditional, no Cornish runs, but potatoes and black forced him to meet with the gooey cheese we scrape off of the wheel. My name is Jackie Lehrer . For the last five years, my husband and I have been going to Idlewild and we are really intentional about our New Year's. We make decisions on what we are going to bring into the new year. We make lists on the things that were grateful for and all the epiphanies that we've had from the year before, so we make sure that we are acknowledging that. And we also make new lists on the things that we want to bring into the new year, so sometimes will make lists on things that maybe we didn't handle the best way and will make sure the -- that we burn those in the fire and then we start over. It is all about starting over in starting a new chapter. My name is Bonnie Elias . I have been in San Diego for over four decades. For the last over two decades, we have had a tradition of taking a New Year's hike. It helps us tone down the night before because we know we are going to get up and do a hike with the same people every year. My name is Kia Johnson. That was produced by Ruth. We are at KPBS Midday Edition on twitter.
Whether it's celebrating at a New Year's Eve party or ringing in the New Year in front of the fireplace, many people return each year to cherished traditions. We spoke with several people around San Diego who shared their New Year's traditions. Here's what they said.
Dennis Doyle of San Diego:
My best buddy and I do a walk through Balboa Park typically and we've done this every single year. This will be our 42nd annual coming up on Monday and we reflect on the year that's passed and we set goals for the coming year and we hold each other accountable. We've done this without fail every single year, even for a while he moved up to Seattle and then he moved back and we still found the time to do this every year without fail. It's really quite remarkable.
Natasha Papousek of Lemon Grove:
My New Year's tradition comes from the South and I'm pretty sure its from all over the South, but I grew up in Tennessee. New Year's Eve was just New Year's Eve, but on New Year's Day that was really when we had fun. My mom would make a big ham, and then we'd have greens and cornbread and black eyed peas. (There was) always a penny in the black eyed peas and whoever got the penny had good luck for the whole year.
Shanise Alyson of San Diego:
One of my New Year's Eve traditions is to watch the sunset and make New Year's resolutions.
Jacquie Lowell of San Diego:
What I will be doing on New Year's Day is sitting under a tree asking for divine guidance for the coming year. What am I doing now that I should stop doing, what am I not doing that would be good to start doing, and what other guidance for the year ahead? It started several decades ago when I started spending fall and winter weekends hiking in the Cuyamaca's, getting out of my left brain and into my senses, enjoying the smells of the Pine and Eucalyptus, the sounds of birds and sometimes the occasional deer. The Japanese call it "forest bathing" and that became my ritual of choice for New Year's Day. One New Year's sitting on my favorite rock, overlooking the beautiful vista, the wilderness, I was inspired to ask for divine guidance for that year and the answers that came to me turned out to be so useful.
Pete Bohmer of Olympia, Washington:
I lived in San Diego a long time ago, this was in the seventies where a lot of people were very active around challenging racism, challenge the war in Vietnam. I lived in Ocean Beach. We tried to stop some of the developers there and fought against police brutality. I live now in Olympia, Washington and I came back to see friends of mine, all of them who were very active during this period. Many of them are still active today, have not given up, have not sold out. But, particularly on New Year's Eve I try to think, 'You know, I am not in prison, but there are many people in the United States who are political prisoners who challenged racism, challenged inequality, challenged U.S. intervention abroad. Many of them are doing long sentences.' I try to think about them. I often write to them. I toast to them every New Year's Eve.
Patricia Fishtein of San Diego:
Our New Year's Eve tradition is one that we started a while ago after my daughter had visited France for the first time. We were living in New Jersey and wanted to do something special that involved everyone. Somehow we decided on raclette dinner, which is either French or Swiss. Twenty-five years later my kids are still in New Jersey, but I am in San Diego in a house with a real fireplace still making raclette dinner on our New Year's Eve with my new companion. Not traditional, no cornichons, but potatoes and black forest ham to eat with the gooey cheese we scrape off of the raclette wheel.
Jackie Lehrer of San Diego:
For the last five years, my husband and I have been going to Idyllwild and we're really intentional about our New Year's. So we make decisions on what we are going to bring into the New Year. We make lists on the things that we're grateful for and all the epiphanies that we've had from the year before, so we make sure that we're acknowledging that. And we also make new lists on the things that we want to bring into the next year, so sometimes we'll make lists on things that maybe we didn't handle the best way and we'll make sure that we burn those in the fire and then we start over so it's all about sort of starting over and starting a new chapter.
Bonnie Elias of San Diego:
For the last over two decades we've had a tradition of taking a New Year's hike, so it helps us tone down the night before because we know we're going to get up and do a hike with the same people every year.
Kai Johnson of San Diego:
My wife is Japanese, and we follow some of the Japanese traditions for New Year's Day. At midnight on New Year's Eve, we eat bowls of soba. Then on New Year's Day, we eat Zoni soup following her family recipe (Zoni recipies vary by household and region).
Do you have a New Year's tradition? Tell us about it in the comments.
