Happy New Year! Google Doodle, fireworks welcome 2014

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It’s arguably the world’s most spectacular New Year’s celebration: A costumed performance and light show atop the Great Wall of China. It’s just one of many 2014 New Year’s celebrations from around the globe. Check out more: (Wang Zhao / AFP/Getty Images)

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Chinese folk artists take part in the Great Wall celebration. (Lintao Zhang / Getty Images)

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A light show illuminates the Great Wall during the countdown to 2014. (Wang Zhao / AFP/Getty Images)

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Look how far this performance stretches into the night! Let’s look at how other parts of the world are ringing in 2014: (Wang Zhao / AFP/Getty Images)

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Fireworks light up the sky over the capital of the Philippines. (Bullit Marquez / Associated Press)

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A new event -- the first-ever ball drop at Hotel Lebua at State Tower in Bangkok -- claims to be the world’s highest New Year’s Eve ball drop. (Luke Duggleby / Associated Press for lebua Hotels)

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Fireworks above Kandawgyee Lake. (Lynn Bo Bo / EPA)

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Thousands celebrate at the Jakarta Night Festival. (Bagus Inahono / EPA)

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Indonesian military members prepare to release lanterns into the sky above Bintan Island to mark the arrival of the new year. (Yuli Seperi / Getty Images)

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Fireworks launch from the landmark Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei. (Wally Santana / Associated Press)

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Another look at that spectacular display in Taipei. (Wally Santana / Associated Press)

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This is a custom that has world-wide popularity: Nothing says “Happy New Year” like funky glasses. (Herbert Neubauer / EPA)

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See what we mean? Revelers prepare to watch the ball drop on Times Square. (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images)

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Thousands gather at an open-air party in front of the Brandenburg Gate. (Ole Spata / EPA)

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Fireworks go off over Marina Bay. (How Hwee Young / EPA)

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People gather to release balloons to celebrate the New Year during an annual countdown ceremony. (Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP/Getty Images)

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Thousands of balloons -- carrying wishes for the new year -- are released as 2014 begins. (Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP/Getty Images)

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New Year’s fireworks explode over Victoria Harbor. (Kin Cheung / Associated Press)

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Another look at those Hong Kong fireworks ... (Kin Cheung / Associated Press)

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Buddhists attend New Year’s Eve celebrations at the Bongeun temple in Seoul. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

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Now we know what Santa does after Christmas: Dole out chocolates to people enjoying their last sea bath of the year in Dinard, western France. (Damien Meyer / AFP/Getty Images)

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This is one New Year’s Eve tradition that needs explaining: It seems that in Uruguay, splashing passers by with water is a way to ring out the old year, in preparation for the new. Here, a cyclist in downtown Montevideo is drenched. (Miguel Rojo / AFP/Getty Images)

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Here, a pedestrian is doused. (Ivan Franco / EPA)

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Fireworks explode over Sydney’s landmark Harbor Bridge. (Greg Wood / AFP/Getty Images)

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New Year’s Eve fireworks erupt over Sydney’s iconic Opera House. (Greg Wood / AFP/Getty Images)

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Thousands line the banks of the Yarra River to watch the fireworks explode over the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (Vince Caligiuri / Getty Images)

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Fireworks over the Melbourne skyline and the Yarra River. (Vince Caligiuri / Getty Images)

By Rene Lynch

Dec. 31, 2013 12:43 PM PT

Happy New Year! And what better way to start 2014 than with a Google Doodle, some cheap Champagne and a look at how the rest of the planet is already partying.

The Google Doodle as of this moment sums up how many Americans feel. Have you seen it yet? Chunky numerals 2, 0, 1, 3 are strutting their stuff on a blinking dance floor beneath a glittering disco ball. Meanwhile, No. 4 is off in the wings, waiting patiently for its moment to boot off No. 3 and take its place in the spotlight.

Kinda like the way office workers from New York to Los Angeles are waiting patiently for the moment when they can ditch their desks without raising the bossman’s ire, and get going to their New Year’s Eve destination, right?

PHOTOS: 2014 New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world

Such 2014 New Year’s celebrations are already underway in regions of the world that are ahead of us, time-wise, as you can see from our photo gallery above.

You’ll notice that -- no surprise -- people around the globe have different ways of ringing out the old and ringing in the new.

In Uruguay, for example, one unusual tradition sees office workers dumping water on passersby below. And in Tokyo, revelers at a New Year’s celebration release balloons into the air, with each symbolizing a wish for the year ahead.

Who has the most spectacular New Year’s celebration? IMHO it’s China, hand’s down. Check out the photos of the celebrations atop the Great Wall, and see if you don’t agree.

But some New Year’s celebrations are the same, no matter which corner of the globe. Fireworks, for one, are popular around much of the world. Likewise with free-flowing Champagne and sparkling wine.

And so, it seems, is the need to ring in the New Year wearing funky, blingy eyewear.

Happy New Year!

How are you ringing in the New Year? Tweet me @renelynch (Me? I’m celebrating with lots of cheap bubbly...)

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