People around the world celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another on New Year’s Eve, and residents of the Becker, Clearwater and Clear Lake areas are no different.

 

The change of the new year is seen as a finale followed by a fresh start.

 

The latest statistics show around 70% of people celebrate New Year’s Eve at home or head over to a friend or family member’s house. For those with young children, nearly 50% “count down” to the new year by 9 p.m.

 

Fifty-four percent plan to kiss someone at midnight; 30% fall asleep before they can ring in the new year. 

 

For those that manage to stay awake until midnight, worldwide over one billion of them watch the Times Square Ball drop.

 

Locally, most people choose to celebrate the new year at home.

 

Rose Lisson and her nearly four-year-old daughter, Maddie, celebrated New Year’s Eve at home with the rest of their family, eating homemade pizza and playing board games. 

 

“I played Monopoly, Banana Grams and Barbie Match game,” said Maddie.

 

Although still a boy, Chris Kluge has his own New Year’s Eve tradition.

 

“When it hit 2019 I ran outside and yelled Happy New Year!” he said. “Then I jumped into the snow wearing only my clothes. I do it every year.”

 

When Jenny Lieser has her daughter, nine-year-old Lauren Peters, for New Year’s, they invite her cousins over to help celebrate.

 

“Last year we watched a movie, had snacks and a fashion show and ran around getting crazy,” said Peters. “We stayed up until midnight, had a countdown and then drank sparkling grape juice in wine glasses.”

 

Michelle Hennekamp and her husband, Adam, invite both sets of their parents over on New Year’s Eve to grill steaks. After their guests left this year they headed for bed; as the parents of two little ones, sleep was more important to them than staying up until midnight.

 

For the past 10 years, Bob Payne and his wife, Betty, have gotten together with their children and grandchildren on New Year’s Eve to play games and grill; this year his son-in-law, a chef, made pork loins.

 

The family plays games like checkers and “Sudoku challenge,” which pits teams of one adult and one child against each other.

 

“All the grandkids want to be on grandpa’s team,” said Payne. “Because I’ve been the reigning champ for the past three years.”

 

Susan Chwalek and her husband, Dick, spent New Year’s Eve with a group of friends. They’ve been part of a card club for 20 years that gets together once a month, and the group’s tradition is to spend New Year’s Eve playing 500.

 

“We start late so we can stay up late,” said Chwalek. “We all bring food to share, watch the ball drop and toast in the new year with some bubbly.”

 

Some residents’ New Year’s traditions involve food. Tina Lee makes black eyed peas for her family every New Year’s Day, and everyone comes over to eat it. Eating the dish on the first day of the new year is said to bring luck and prosperity.

 

“I really don’t believe in luck but it’s tradition,” she explained. “The trick to making it is to use a lot of spices.”

 

Some residents choose not to celebrate this year. Kaylee Welker and her boyfriend spent New Year’s Eve flying home from Sa Diego, CA, where they’d been visiting her boyfriend’s uncle for Christmas.

 

They didn’t get back to Minnesota until 10:30 p.m., so they just headed home, too exhausted from traveling to welcome in the new year.