As we approach the beginning of a new year, I have started to notice the grouchy old man inside of me getting ready for an appearance. I have no problem with people celebrating on New Year’s Eve except for one thing.

Why does the New Year have to start so late?

More often than not, I stay up to midnight to watch the ball drop and all that jazz. My wife – the smarter one in this couple by a country mile – has usually already headed to bed. Or she’s asleep in her recliner as I watch the TV quietly a few feet away on the couch.

Either way, she doesn’t give in to the peer pressure that society puts on people to actually stay awake until we can turn the page from December to January.

Sometimes I understand her position and hit the hay early, but more often than not I stay up simply because that’s what I think I should do. I have no reason why since it’s not like anyone will really hold it against me.

We have never really found an event to attend that fits into our schedule. We used to visit friends in Maryland, but had to stay the night so we could properly have fun, and that just made entry into January more difficult than we wanted.

Ideally, we would attend a fun and safe celebration that lets us sleep in our own bed, but we just end up staying home to celebrate together. That makes an early bedtime an ever-present temptation.

After all, the clock strikes midnight more than once. Celebrating 2015 at 7 p.m when much of Europe sets off their fireworks is a little early. We could align with some islands west of the European coast and celebrate at 8 p.m., but I think I’ll still be awake.

The Sandwich Islands – British territories off of Argentina – will welcome 2015 when our clocks strike nine, but they don’t seem significant enough. I think I might make it until 10 p.m. and bring in the New Year with the good folks of Greenland.

I wouldn’t miss anything interesting if I did that and went to bed at a normal hour. I have spent enough years flipping channels from 10 p.m. to midnight to know that the folks who program television networks either want us drunk or asleep that night so they can show the worst shows known to man.

The only time I can really remember finding something entertaining to watch on New Year’s Eve was when a channel showed a bunch of episodes of “Friends” that focused on the holiday. But I distinctly remember all these shows starting after midnight, which meant I stupidly stayed up even later than normal to watch a bunch of episodes I had seen a bunch of times before.

Maybe I just need to embrace that. After all, I stay up too late watching TV on random occasions throughout the year. That’s kind of who I am. And maybe that’s a tradition in Greenland too.