2010 Ends The Same as 2009 -- Early

While I was laying on the beach yesterday, New Year's Eve, I thought back to a decade of New Year's Eve celebrations. I'm going to flat-out say that I think NYE is the lamest holiday ever. Katie and I seem to have a really, really terrible track record with NYE celebrations, dating back to 98-99. I feel the need to justify my hatred of the holiday, so I'm going to recap a decade of lameness in none other than a list. A Top 10 list of crappy, hyped-up nights that turn out to be epic letdowns.

Turning to 99: Pretty sure that's the year Katie got stood up. Sorry to bring up bad memories, but that's really when it all started to suck for me. For us, really, because my bestie's a recurring character in many of these stories.

Y2K: Let's just say my mom and her friends decided it would be a great idea to host a dance (they were thinking along the lines of prom, but it turned out to be more like 12 people swaying while we rolled eyes at our mothers and were totally embarrassed that we had to be there). Pretty sure the highlight of that night was...wait, there were no highlights from that night. Other than mocking the entire night with Katie.

2001: Utterly forgettable. Not totally forgettable, actually. We went to see Castaway as a family and then I spent the evening with "The One That Got Away." (Katie's older brother, Matt, who I happened to be dating at the time)

2002: Katie and I tried to get a hotel room so we could ring in the new year drinking alone. It was a good idea in theory, but we weren't old enough to get a hotel room, and we definitely weren't old enough to drink. I think there was bribery involved with my mom or her mom or something. Pretty sure we wound up drinking in the living room and commiserating about the crappiness of the night.

2003: Really, seriously, forgettable. And, since Katie's sitting right here, I asked her what we did. Her response? "We probably had a slumber party at your mom's house. We probably had a few drinks and slept on the couch and the following morning, I probably got in my car and went home."

2004: I got my wisdom teeth out on Dec. 30 and my memories are pretty sketchy. I remember Katie and Garry stopped by to say "hi" and that was it.

2005: You would think that our first NYE as 21-year-olds would have been really exciting, but it wasn't. Katie and I road-tripped to Nashville to party with Jackie and Brother and the actual NYE is a total blank. The only thing I remember from that trip is Jackie sending us out for eggs and it taking so long that Katie and I had to stop at Sbarro a block away from their apartment to buy a small snack. And by small snack, I mean we each ate an entire slice of pizza.

2006: Probably the best NYE of the decade. I rang it in with my college besties in Chicago at Howl at the Moon. We got gussied up and braved the cold and slutty girls in tube tops to have a great time. And we did, if you can forget the girl vomiting in the corner all night. In fact, so much fun was had that we overslept and I almost missed my train back to M.C.

2007: Laurie, my oldest college roommate, came to the Twin Cities with me. It was a disaster. There was a blizzard and it was Sunday so we couldn't even buy alcohol. We wound up at the Part Tavern with a pathetic looking bunch of folks.

2008: Party at Laura's! I remember I wore a really cute red turtleneck. And there was Nintendo playing. I remember little else.

2009: Jackie, Brother and I painted Liam's nursery. And went to bed before 10pm.

2010: I dropped Laura and Tess off at the airport and went home. And went to bed before 10pm.

2011: Katie and I played a rousing game of Would You Rather... and drank some Middle Sister wicked white wine with a mimosa chaser and went to bed before 10pm.

For me, NYE is totally lame. I don't wait for the ball drop or worry about sober drivers. I stay in and get comfy and don't worry what people think about my lameness. It's just another night.