What a great idea! If you have young children at home and it is a struggle to keep them awake past 8 or 9pm, there is good news. You can now choose the time that "the ball drops" to ring in 2018.

This year’s countdowns feature beloved characters from nine different shows, including “Trollhunters,” “All Hail King Julien,” “Skylanders Academy,” “Puffin Rock,” “Word Party,” “Beat Bugs,” “Pororo,” “Larva” and “True and the Rainbow Kingdom.” Parents can find it in the “Kids” platform, where they’ll see a celebratory 2018 icon, or they can just search “countdown.”

We always tried to stay up late enough to start the new year and my parents had a tradition of eating some sort of salty fish that was supposed to bring good luck. These days I find that we rarely stay up past 10 on New Year's Eve and if we do watch the ball drop, it's a quick sip of wine or beer or whatever is available!

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