Another Christmas has passed. Whew! Thank goodness! I don't know about you but I've had it up to my eyeballs in holiday cheer. I can't even bring myself to say "Ho" anymore. Time to rid your living room of the sea of wrapping paper and repair the damage done from the eating assault you've put your body through.

Get up...yes, I know it's tough...but who's fault is it that you feel like swallowed three basketballs and you need a wheelbarrow to haul around your belly? Was it absolutely necessary to sample all three variety of pies and have seconds or thirds of Aunt Mamie's famous Jello salad? Pick yourself up from the couch (or roll yourself off, whichever applies), shake the last crumbs from your lap because now it's time to prepare for the annual New Years Eve celebration.

Personally, I don't go out and celebrate any more. First of all, this is amateur night on the highways. All of us "professional" drinkers have better sense than to attempt navigation through the slew of part time drinkers playing highway bumper cars. I'd rather stay in and force myself to stay up until midnight. Yes, that's right, I said force myself.

In my younger years it was all about the party. Heck, I didn't even start my heart til nine and wouldn't be caught dead in public until ten. But, now that I'm older I much prefer to stay in and celebrate quietly.

Unless you live in a cave, most everyone knows about the big ball that gets dropped in New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve and, of course, Atlanta's 800-pound peach. But you may not have heard about the gumbo pot, the pickle or the giant Peep, a fiberglass replica of the famed marshmallowy candy.

The Peep show is in Bethlehem, Pa., where the city drops the 25-pound illuminated treat from a crane. Wow! I wouldn't want to be standing under the giant peep if there was an accident. That could be a "sticky" situation, huh.

In Lebanon, Pa., a 71/2-foot edible bologna made by the Weaver-Kutztown Bologna Co. is lowered at midnight and then donated to area charities. If you have a hankerin' for a sandwich, bring along a loaf of bread, a knife and a jar of mayo...

In Key West, Fla., a conch shell drops atop Sloppy Joe's Bar; (Conchy Joe anyone?) "Drag Queen Sushi" is lowered in a 6-foot-tall shoe (I'd like to meet the person who wears a six foot shoe) at the Bourbon Street Pub; and a pirate "wench" descends from a schooner in the harbor. "Aarrhh, Matey."

Port Clinton, Ohio, the self-proclaimed "Walleye Capital of the World," drops a 20-foot, 600-pound fiberglass walleye fish at midnight. (hope it's fresh)

In North Carolina, Raleigh lowers a copper acorn weighing 1,250 pounds from atop the civic center, (be on the lookout for hungry frustrated squirrels carrying chisels) and Mount Olive residents watch a 3-foot-high glowing pickle plunge down the Mount Olive Pickle Co. flagpole into a tank. Hmmm....a pickle....my question is why??? With a name like Mount Olive you think they would be dropping a giant martini. Now that would be a party!

A giant gumbo pot is lowered in New Orleans, (yummy) and in Easton, Md., it's a giant crab (pinch me, please).

I think I'm going to settle in with Dick Clark (if they can still prop him up for a few hours), a good book and maybe, just maybe I'll manage to see the dawn of the new year and hum a few bars of "Auld Lang Syne".

See you all in 2009!!!!