New Year’s Eve in NH Just Ain’t The Same Without Dick Clark

Growing up, it seemed like the average NH temperature on 12/31 was below zero.

And watching the New Year arrive with 'The World's Oldest Teenager' was a must.

When I was a kid, we always spent New Years Eve over at my Grandparents and celebrated it at 8pm. This was because I was the oldest and my younger cousins would usually zonk out by 9:30.

The 8pm celebration involved firing off those plastic 'Champagne Poppers' and we would also drink a toast with dixie cups filled from a bottle of Welch's sparkling cider.

Other than pigging out on shrimp cocktail or pizza from Pizza Hut (the pinnacle of culinary luxury when you are 11 years old), the real highlight for me was staying up to see the Big Apple drop in Times Square 'Smack Dab into the New Year'.

My excitement was shared by not only my Gramp and Nan, but the man who had hosted the biggest party in the world since 1973, Richard Wagstaff Clark.

Dick Clark would have been 90 this year and not a single New Year's Eve goes by without me remembering his show and how much fun it was to stay up to welcome a brand new year with my family.

It just ain't the same without him!