A couple news stories caught my eye yesterday. (To be entirely honest one caught my ear… I was driving.) It’s not often that I find two related stories (and relevant), however this is the exception.
The first story that I heard about is Good Riddance Day. The idea is to take something in the past year and put it where it belongs… in the past. It could be your ex or maybe a grudge you have against your boss. How does it work? You have to create a paper represenation of that thing you want to get rid of. So you can write that ex’s name on a piece of paper. Or you can take that big credit card bill and put that in there. This might be a New York City holiday, but I can see it expanding. I could also see it morphing into saying good riddance to some physical objects that you don’t need anymore. I have a couple of laptops and desktops that fit that bill.
The other story that I read is a lot more vague. I apologize that I couldn’t get more details on it, but I still thought it was worth sharing. Someone, somewhere, (see, really vague) came up with the idea of collecting unwanted Chirstmas gifts and giving them to the soldiers. Finally a way to bid good riddance (see the connection now), to that ugly sweater. You don’t even have to feel bad about regifting it… it’s going to a good cause. I wish I could find more details on this, but my Internet sleuthing has come up empty. Maybe a helpful reader can find more details on it.
So as the new year approaches, what are you going to say good riddance to? I think I’m going to focus on saying good riddance to my procrastination… Actually, I’m a little busy this time of year, so maybe I’ll say good riddance to it next month.
I’m saying good riddance to paper towels. I’ve figured I will save $150 over the next year by switching to cloth napkins. Happy New Year!
Boxing Day (12/26) is a long held tradition in Canada and the UK where you’re supposed to make donations to those less fortunate – sounds similar to your second story.