New Year's Eve in Simons would find the Brick People eating left-over Christmas tamales and washing them down with shots of tequila, those that couldn't afford tequila, and most couldn't - would do so with cheap wine.
As the sun would begin to set over the brickyard, the men would light up lumbritas (small fires) to gather around and play their lidas (guitars) and sing old Mexican songs. Their ladies, in a joyful mood, would join the festivities. With no cops to look over them, the men were free to build lumbritas in their backyards. And with the promise of better times to come with the new year, the men would sing romantic songs to their wives/girlfriends. Every now and then, a guy would be singing too romantic to somebody else's wife or girlfriend, and a fight would break out, only to end up with the two guys hugging each other as only compa's could.
As the clock was nearing the midnight hour, the teenage couples would disappear into the cornfields, and as they were doing so, the old folks would bring out their old 44's. Then, as the clock struck 12 with gunshots in the background, the dancing, hugging, and kissing would start and wouldn't end till sun-up. The men without TVs to watch the Rose Parade or the Rose Bowl games in those cold 1940's winters would spend New Year's Day around the lumbritas making plans for the new year, and as they talk, a bottle or two would be passed around, a sip just to keep warm they would say. Then, in a day or two, the festivities would come to an end, and it was time to go back to las máquina's to start making bricks for the new year.
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