Happy Leap Year Everyone

The new year is supposed to be symbolic of new beginnings, clean slates, and all things cheery and optimistic. Not that I'm always such a downer (which I'm not- it's just misery loves company and I've always been one for social engagements), but I can't remember having a particularly riveting New Year's Eve celebration since 2003-going-on-2004 when it was cool to stay up past my bedtime, even if it meant being nine years away from the legal drinking age and still passing out as soon as the ball dropped in Times Square.
To phrase it in a more cliched way, I always expect too much out of holidays. We put so much emphasis on the celebration itself, that sometimes we forget the real meaning of the season (or lack thereof- St. Patrick's Day...I'm looking at you), and build an average, ordinary day into something it's not.
This year, I decided I wouldn't place any weight on NYE at all. Part of it was out of spite, cynicism, and my unhealthy, obsessive need to act like a brooding nihilist, but part of it was I'm just tired of disappointment. In the past, I've had everything needed for the perfect, formulaic holiday celebration...the parties, the champagne, someone to share a midnight kiss with underneath the mistletoe at midnight. But, many of the parties have flopped, the champagne often times ran out before anyone could ride their buzz, and now my prince charming is Sid the short-hair chihuahua who licks my face at 11:58, too enthusiastic to wait another 120 seconds.
So, this year, I decided to sit at home, eat ice cream in bed, and watch all six seasons of How I Met Your Mother, taking whatever bids came my way...yow know- typical night in Omaha, Nebraska when you're 20, single, and have a dog.

Long story short, I ended up ringing in the New Year fantastically- curled up on the couch with two of my best childhood friends from down the street, eating junk food, and playing fashion police with the celebrities on ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve...the perfect holiday I've been searching for relentlessly for the last however many years.

Perhaps the lesson here is that we should lower our expectations- that way, when something falls through, it doesn't have so far to drop, and the crater it leaves is something more of a dent.
Or, maybe it's that we should treat the simple things in life--the average, ordinary days--as something worth celebrating.