How My Family Celebrated New Year's by Yvonne White

My whole family was excited about New Year’s Eve except me. I found it kind of boring as a child; there were no songs like Boney M’s Christmas Carols to bring in the New Year and, of course, New Year’s meant back to school.

My elder brother, Ikenna, brought champagne in preparation for the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Additionally, my parents and my younger brother, Obinna, were watching television while I listened to Christmas carols and other music to make the time to fly by.

In Nigeria, in a city like Lagos State, where my brothers and I were born and raised, people would wait for ships to blow their horns as a sign that the New Year had arrived. In contrast, in the village, people throw bangers (Africa’s version of fireworks) on grasses and sing songs in Igbo.

It was now 10 o’clock in the evening. We watched the New Year’s Eve celebration done at Times Square in New York on CNN and ABC channels. There were celebrities performing live. The time finally arrived when the ball was about to drop. My family and I counted ‘til it was New Year. My family was overjoyed. We said a very long prayer to thank God for allowing us to see another year and we wished to see more New Years. My family and I drank very small glasses of wine because of the alcohol content.

I had to admit I enjoyed the New Year’s Eve, even though I wished it was still Christmas, one of my favorite times of the year.