Happy New Year...

Somehow, I have managed to reach adulthood without establishing any concrete New Year's Eve traditions. This could have something to do with the fact that I very seldom drink -- huge hotel bashes and raucous house parties have absolutely no appeal for me. As a child, New Year's Eves were spent quietly at home, watching the ball drop in New York on television, followed by the Chicago fireworks, while my parents imbibed the one alcoholic beverage a year that I ever saw them consume. As I got older, New Year's became a holiday that I typically spent with my friend Claudia, although our ideas of how the holiday should be celebrated became increasingly divergent as the years passed, and we eventually found new, separate ways to celebrate.

This year, my attempt to host a modest New Year's Eve gathering eventually morphed to attending a small party at the apartment of Lauren and her husband Clarence, which was blessedly nearby, considering the evening's sub-artic temperatures. We rang in 2010 with a formidable amount of food (for my part, I contributed chocolate meringue sandwich cookies (yes, more cookies, I surprised even myself) and homemade cheese crackers (baked in an effort to expand the utility of my new cookie press beyond just Christmas)), conversation, and a game of Taboo so distracting, we actually missed the clock turning past midnight. It was a very pleasant, low-key sort of night.

Which is, honestly, quite fine with me. I don't need the confetti, the noisemakers, and the champagne, just some friendly faces with whom to pass the time. If how you celebrate the start of the new year is in any way reflective of the year to come, I think one could do a lot worse than to be surrounded by friends.