From Us to You

It's that time of year, Patrick and I wish everyone a happy & healthy 2025.

We hope that it will be a good year for All

"Auld Lang Syne" is famously associated with a song popular on New Year's Eve.  The title, translated literally into standard English, is "Old Long Since." The words can be interpreted as since long ago or for old times' sake.

The song is based on a poem written by Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland, who claimed he didn't write the song but that the words were taken from an old man’s singing. Burns was the first to put it on paper in 1788, and the poem didn't appear in print until after his death in 1796. It was popular in Scotland and was sung at weddings and other occasions. With its emphasis on friendship, reminiscence and parting,“Auld Lang Syne” expressed the essence of Hogmanay (Scots word for the last day of the year) by bidding farewell to one year so that another could begin.

Guy Lombardo, Mr New Year's Eve

Canadian-born bandleader Guy Lombardo and his band, the Royal Canadians made “Auld Lang Syne” a New Year’s Eve tradition in North America. Lombardo heard the tune when he and his brothers, as teenage musicians, toured rural areas around his hometown of London, Ontario, which had been settled by Scots. It was played in a series of popular radio (and later TV) broadcasts that began on December 31, 1929 and continued to 1976.

Variety magazine called Lombardo “the only Canadian ever to create an American tradition.” According to Life magazine, if Lombardo failed to play “Auld Lang Syne” the American public wouldn't believe that a new year had arrived. 

Lombardo died in 1977, and while 2025 will arrive without him, it won't quite the same. He and his band hosted an annual New Year's Eve celebration at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC from 1966 to 1976, traditional viewing at my parent's home.

Our plans are to celebrate at home in NH. However, you will usher in a New Year and whatever memories you will share, we hope they are full of good times and special memories.