Recycle the champagne bottles, sweep up the confetti and get busy. Happy New Year—it’s the perfect day to get 2010 off on the right foot. Here’s what you should be doing: •Recycle everything you can from the holidays. Store your fabric ribbons to be ironed and reused next year. Wrap light strands around cardboard wrapping-paper tubes so they don’t get tangled and might stand a chance of coming on again. Send your live tree out to be ground into mulch. Keep flat pieces of wrapping paper and gift bags for next season’s presents. •Carefully package decorations. Label the boxes with contents and the location where they were used. •Write thank-you notes. “Writing thank-you notes is an important skill, one that you should teach your children even before they can write,“ says Jacqueline Whitmore, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based author and the founder of http://www.etiquetteexpert.com. “I can’t tell you how many e-mails I get from grandparents who are upset with their grandchildren, or with their children, for not teaching their grandchildren to write thank-you notes. These grandparents lavish the kids with toys and money and don’t even get a phone call in return.“ “In a perfect world, you’d get the note out in 24 to 48 hours,“ Whitmore said. “During the holidays, I would suggest within two weeks or the month.“

The ball atop the Byrd Theatre will be raised at midnight, even though the New Year’s celebration in Carytown has been canceled, the Byrd’s general manager confirmed today.

Icannot remember when I first saw fireworks. I am sure I was quite small, quite a bit smaller at least than the bright flashes of sound and light that echoed over what was probably the Spruce Run Reservoir on July 4th in Clinton Township, N.J. My first thoughts may have been “that’s loud,“ “that’s scary,“ or even “I don’t like that,“ but all I can remember about fireworks during my childhood was a long, sighing “Ooooooooooo,“ that would escape (almost silently amidst loud bang!whir!pop!) from the very corner of my lips.

Toast with Seymour: Join Seymour, Children’s Museum of Richmond’s dinosaur mascot, for festivities, including activities with Radio Disney, kid-friendly music and dancing, games and apple juice toast, 10 a.m.-noon at the museum, 2626 W. Broad St. $8; free to members. 474-7000.

The Carytown Merchants Association isn’t planning the celebration because of the high costs of security and other expenses, said Thom Suddeth, president of the merchants group.

Those New Year’s resolutions of old somehow seem out of date for 2009. How can you resolve to keep your closets straight when you’re worried you might lose the house? Or stick to your fitness plan when you can’t afford that gym membership anymore? In these bleak times, resolutions have more to do with faith, hope and perseverance.

Champagne and caviar might not be in your budget this New Year’s Eve, but you won’t need to resort to crackers and cheese spread to keep the cost of the festivities under control. There are plenty of options for foods that are as good to your wallet as they are to your guests. Consider making bite-size pizzas using store-bought dough and sauce. Making the dough yourself is easy, and even cheaper.

Join the merchants of Petersburg for their second annual “Ball of the Centuries” on New Year’s Eve 2008 at the Black Swan, Old Towne Catering Co., 9 W. Old St., in Petersburg. The evening will begin with cocktails at 8 p.m., followed by dinner and dancing from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Tickets are $75 and include dinner, dessert, dancing and complimentary wine and champagne. A cash bar also will be available.