Everything about New Year’s Eve is big, or is supposed to be, anyway. The big ball drops from a tall building, a big pop when the champagne is uncorked, a big – and late – night out with a big group of people.

But the small gestures were the winners this week. Now, by small I don’t necessarily mean insignificant. Rather, I think of small in this case as simple. Easy. Unfettered by attachments or guilt.

Take the case of a good friend of mine, who was in a group of four pals with whom I spent New Year’s Eve.

A few hours before we gathered for the big bash, this friend arrived back in Bangor from a post-Christmas trip to family about eight hours away. She was tired from the trip but was still supposed to drive another hour to spend New Year’s Eve with her boyfriend.

The long drive had been tough, and she decided to stay in Bangor, even though it meant being apart from her man on the biggest night – or second-biggest night depending on your opinion of Valentine’s Day – of the calendar.

He was understanding, which I thought was simply sweet.

After the ball dropped in front of a medium-sized crowd in downtown Bangor – we’ll never be as big as New York City on New Year’s, which was another small, sweet thing about the evening – we had a quick walk to Christor’s, the new Irish bar in Market Square.

There was a decent-sized crowd in a small space, but that just made things all the more cozy. Five of us crowded into a table built for two or three, with one couple sharing a lap.

We laughed, drank, shared a plate of fish and chips … and lo and behold, after my friend touched base with her boyfriend an hour away, he decided to drive up to Bangor. He arrived about an hour into 2007.

A small gesture – what’s an hour drive? – but the sweetest of the evening.

This year even my New Year’s resolutions are small. Keep in better touch with my two grandmothers. Stop being interested in men who clearly aren’t interested in me. Pay off my Old Navy credit card.

Before the holiday week ended, I realized I had been the recipient of a small gesture in the form of a coupon for some free munchies at a local restaurant. The fellow who gave it to me works behind the bar of this restaurant and – wouldn’t you know it? – you can only get your food if you sit at the bar.

Conveniently, he circled the nights he works which should make it pretty simple for me to stop by one night and claim my munchies and hopefully some nice conversation. Now, if I can only keep my nerves small, so to speak.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600, or jbloch@bangordailynews.net