Five! Four! Three! Two! One!

The site of the Crystal Ball dropping over Times Square in New York City has become the icon of New Year's Eve. But actually, many cities will drop something other than a ball on New Year's Eve:

Bangor, Maine will drop a beach ball decorated with lights
Baltimore Maryland will drop a disco ball.
Duluth, Georgia - a disco ball called the Soaring Spirit Ball is raised
Terre Haute, Indiana will drop watermelons
Atlanta will drop an 800-pound peach.
Port Clinton, Ohio is dropping a walleye fish.
Mount Olive, NC will drop a pickle
Hershey Pennsylvania will drop a Hershey's Kiss.
Tallapoosa, Georgia will drop an opossum
Kokomo, Indiana - an aluminum 70-Pound Ball with 34,000 lights is dropped
Vincennes, Indiana - watermelons are dropped
Havre de Grace, Maryland - a wooden duck is dropped
Black Creek, North Carolina - a large red heart represents "A Small Town with a Big Heart".
Brasstown, North Carolina - The Possum Drop. A plexiglass pyramid containing a living opossum is lowered from the roof of Clay Logan's convenience store. The possum is turned loose at the end of the celebration.
Elmore, Ohio - a sausage will be dropped
Cincinnati, Ohio - a flying pig is "flown" - not dropped, confirming there is at least one occasion "when pigs fly".
Akron, Pennsylvania - A purple-and-gold shoe is dropped
Beavertown, Pennsylvania - a beaver is dropped
Cleona, Pennsylvania - A pretzel is raised
Frogtown, Pennsylvania - A frog is dropped
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania - A lollipop is dropped
Ickesburg, Pennsylvania - A french fry is dropped
Mobile, Alabama - A giant electric Moon Pie is raised
Flagstaff, Arizona - A pine cone is dropped from the balcony of Weatherford hotel.
Key West, Florida - A large ruby slipper, with drag queen Gary "Sushi" Marion inside is dropped
Easton, Maryland - A crab is dropped
Ocean City, Maryland - A beach ball is dropped
Eastover, North Carolina - A three-foot tall, thirty-pound wooden flea is dropped
Dillsburg, Pennsylvania - Two pickles are dropped
Lebanon, Pennsylvania - A 100-pound stick of Lebanon Bologna is dropped
Richland, Pennsylvania - A cigar is dropped
Bartlesville, Oklahoma - An olive is dropped

And right in our own back yard, Prairie Du Chien has the annual Carp Fest, where they drop "Lucky The Carp" at midnight!

But What About "All I Want For Christmas Is You"?

The Shins “Wonderful Christmas” has replaced Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” as the most-played Christmas song this year, according to PlayNetwork, a company that creates playlists for more stores around the country.

PlayNetwork released the 20 songs consumers will hear most this holiday season, which tops out with The Shins’ cover of Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime.”

Here are the top 20 tunes, according to PlayNetwork:
1) Shins – “Wonderful Christmas”

2) Mariah Carey -- “All I Want For Christmas Is You”

3) Christina Aguilera -- “Christmas Time”

4) Waitresses -- “Christmas Wrapping”

5) Jack Johnson -- “Someday At Christmas”

6) Kelly Clarkson -- “Underneath The Tree”

7) Michael Buble -- “A Holly Jolly Christmas”

8) Bing Crosby -- “White Christmas”

9) Train -- “What Christmas Means To Me”

10) Ella Fitzgerald -- “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

11) Coldplay -- “Christmas Lights”

12) Jose Feliciano -- “Feliz Navidad”

13) Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings -- “White Christmas”

14) Vince Guaraldi Trio -- “Christmas Time Is Here”

15) Sam Smith -- “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

16) Pentatonix -- “The Christmas Song"

17) Paul McCartney -- “Wonderful Christmastime”

18) She & Him -- “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”

19) Elvis Presley -- “Blue Christmas”

20) Darlene Love -- “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”

OK so what's your favorite Christmas tune? Drop me your choice at john@kicks1063.com.

I'd Settle For The Partridge In My Oven!

If you go out and buy all the gifts mentioned in the popular Christmas song “The 12 Days of Christmas,” you’ll be paying a little more than you would have for the same gifts last year. PNC Wealth Management follows what the items in this song would cost a Christmas shopper every year, and this is what they found for 2015:

Partridge: $25 (up from $20 last year)Pear tree: $189.99 (up from $187.68)A partridge in a pear tree: $214.99 (up from $207.68)Two turtle doves: $290 (up from $260)Three french hens: $181.50 (same in 2014)Four calling birds: $599.96 (same)Five gold rings: $750.00 (same)Six geese-a-laying $360 (same)Seven swans-a-swimming $13,125 (same)Eight maids-a-milking: $58 (same)Nine ladies dancing: $7,552.84 (same)Ten lords-a-leaping: $5,508.70 (up from $5,348.24 last year)Eleven pipers piping: $2,635.20 (same)Twelve drummers drumming: $2,854.80 (same)
The grand total? $34,130.99, up from $33,933.22 in 2014. It would cost $155,407.18 to buy the presents every time they are repeated in the song (364 gifts). That’s up from $154,508.08 last year.