Hogmanay has been cancelled after Nicola Sturgeon confirmed any moves to relax Covid-19 restrictions over Christmas won't cover the New Year period.
The First Minister says tough choices have to be made and, and the rules in place over the festive period won't apply at Hogmanay and on New Year's Day.
She also said that the specific relaxation of any rules over Christmas would apply to household gatherings, and not hospitality, when it comes to extended bubbles.
She said: "We're not [trying to get an agreement to cover Hogmanay and New Year's Day].
"Accepting reality, Hogmanay, and I think the tradition of New Year’s Day dinner, is a bit more established in Scotland than it might be in some other parts of the UK, so we have to consider that.
"I do not expect that we will be announcing any particular relaxations over the new year period.
"Why not? Because we can't do everything. The Christmas thing is hard enough. Why Christmas and not New Year? Well, maybe Christmas is a more important time for kids. I think for most of us, even if we value New Year, Christmas is still the time when families are more likely to not want to have somebody on their own, so we can’t do everything right now.
"Rather than come at this with 'why Christmas and not New Year'. People really just have to understand that Christmas may be a big enough ask for us and may involve difficult enough decisions without that extending to another part of the festive period."
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Sturgeon added: "All I would say is we can now see the light at the end of this tunnel. We just need to get through this next period. Even if that means not having a normal Christmas in the hope that not too far into next year we will start to enjoy a lot more normality, and start to enjoy interacting with loved ones a bit more.
"And by next Christmas these discussions will seem like a distant memory because it will feel much, much more normal."
