NYE

New Year's Eve, in my humble opinion, is the most overrated and disappointing holiday of the year.  First of all it symbolizes the end of what could have been a great year.  Who knows if next year will live up to its billing?  It also happens to end the holiday season, and in my line of work that means Christmas break.  Back to three months of dark, cold, and endless days of cabin fever.  Further, it is a night when EVERYONE is out partying.  Well, what if you are not everyone and are stuck home with stale cookies and left over ham, watching that gigantic ball drop alone?  Finally, there is that darn New Year's kiss.  Can you position yourself to maximize your chance of an unbelievable lip lock with a handsome stranger or will you be stuck between your brother and that weird guy with the cold sore?  Bring me straight to St. Patty's Day, do not pass Go, do not collect $200!

My New Year's Eve started out perfectly.  We just went to our favorite local diner for some fries and gravy (you need to get a base, friends!) and found the perfect table up front.  Having just been cleaned it afforded us plenty of room for the baby, a perfect view of the automated Santa and his friends, and a relatively new copy of Automotive Weekly.  Alas, maybe this year will be different. 

Well, 15 minutes later we packed up the baby and aborted our perfect view for the car and drove home to make our own breakfast.  None of the three waitresses were paying enough attention to see us sit, twiddle our thumbs, and leave in a huff.  The door being nearly jerked off of its hinges may have woken up a patron or two at the counter, but we left gravy free and very disappointed.

There were two New Year's Eve celebrations that did almost change my mind.  The first was years ago when we may have still been celebrating underage.  Two friends rented out the local AOH and we danced and partied well into the new year.  And my favorite: NYE 2000.  The world did not end (luckily) and my friends and I went from party to party and ended up at a block party that included a pig roast, tent after tent of fantastic food, and tasty beverages as far as your frozen breath would take you.

But that was a decade ago.  This year I will celebrate as I usually do with my near and dear, and possibly a wedding dress or two.  There will be wrestling, champagne toasts, and the host will probably begin to shed his clothes as we count down.  We will eat, drink, and be merry like we do every time we are together.  We will have a great time and wake up tomorrow like we have been run over by a truck.  Tomorrow morning, I will slurp down my fountain soda and someone will fill me in on all of the funny things that I forgot.  We will make resolutions to loose weight, save money, and be better friends.   Then we will all plunge ahead into 2011.  And that's fine.  It's just that if it wasn't December 31st, you wouldn't even know it was New Year's Eve.

Auld Lang Syne friends, and may Snooki not fall faster that the ball that carries her!