[Robb_K]

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Chanukkah,  Everyone! 

[gregjh]

And the very same to you sir!

[Yoc]

Thanks Robb, and to you as well.

[paw broon]

Merry Christmas.
Buon Natale.
Joyeux Noël.
Buone Feste.
Feliz Navidad.
A happy, safe time to all.

[SuperScrounge]

Bah, humbug... Whoops! Wrong thread! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful celebration of peace on Earth and goodwill to our fellow humans! 

[Robb_K]

Does anyone make vows to improve his or her behaviour in the New Year anymore? 

I always remember that in most of the January issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories during the 1940s and 1950s, Carl Barks had Donald Duck in a bet contest over who would break their New Year's Vows (Resolutions) first.  And they each worked hard trying to trick the other into breaking their vow. 

In real life, some people used to vow to lose X number of pounds of their bodyweight, or to stop smoking cigarettes, drinking liquor too much and getting out of control, or to stop taking dangerous drugs, or to give more money to charities, or to be more civil to their colleagues at work, or to stop nagging their husbands, or to stop gossiping about others, or to stop being a bully and behaving rudely, or to stop being so hard on their children, or..........

Or is it now passé,........ because most Western, so-called "civilised" people, have no will power to become "better-behaved" people, greatly underestimate their faults, and are afraid to even consider them seriously, let alone confront them?

[paw broon]

Happy New Year to all our members.
A Guid New Year tae yin an' a'.
Interesting post Robb.
I don't make resolutions but I keep trying to do what I can to keep going. 

[gregjh]

Happy new year everyone.
Yes I do make resolutions.

[SuperScrounge]

Does anyone make vows to improve his or her behaviour in the New Year anymore?

I always remember that in most of the January issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories during the 1940s and 1950s, Carl Barks had Donald Duck in a bet contest over who would break their New Year's Vows (Resolutions) first.  And they each worked hard trying to trick the other into breaking their vow.

I remember thinking last century what a ridiculous idea it was.

If you realize that you need to lose weight, stop smoking, etc., etc. why wait till the end of the year to do something about it? "My goodness, I should cut down on my smoking, drinking, overeating, and being rude to people. Oh, but January 1st is 8 months away so I'll wait till then to do anything about it."

I think the other thing is that fiction (if not reality) has turned the idea of a New Year's Resolution into a joke, something that no one expects you to keep, or even the concept of trying to make someone break their resolution for laughs.