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Boston 2010. Once again, Boston hosted the Nation's original First Night. The 34th annual New Year's Eve celebration of the arts and culture festival has become a model for similar celebrations worldwide.

Yesterday’s sleet and snow did nothing but accentuate the feel of a true winter’s night, as temperatures in Boston settled to comfortable low 30s. Families found their way through the 200 exhibitions and 1,000 artists’ displays. The hot chocolate flowed.

Revelers sampled arts and crafts displays scattered throughout downtown, took in the Metro Boston Grand Procession, led by Mayor Menino in a horse-drawn carriage, and enjoyed a fireworks show on Boston Common that brought thousands of onlookers to their feet.

Families and couples, young and old, marveled as the sky was lit up in grand style. A fitting welcome to 2010, as the colorful explosions reflected off the newly fallen snow and the ice sculptures that dotted Boston Common.

Across the state New Year’s Eve brought similar celebrations. In Chatham, revelers watched as a sculpture of a fish, called Countdown Cod, was hoisted, with plans to watch it descend as a digital clock ticked off the final seconds of 2009. A celebratory bonfire lit up the night sky at Oyster Pond, and a noisemaker’s parade shook the town’s tony capes.

Last night’s upbeat celebration contrasts with last year, soured by frigid temperatures and storms throughout the night. Some fireworks shows across the state had been canceled because of the weather, dissappointing about 300,000 people that attended the Boston celebration alone.

The day’s quick two-inch snowfall caused brief fears of transportation woes. Roads were slippery, leading to scattered fender benders throughout the day, state and local police reported. The soggy conditions turned the Common into a mess of mush and puddles. But that couldn’t keep people away.

While event-goers resolved in the new year to be healthy, quit smoking, work out more, or be more environmentally friendly, others reflected on a decade that began with the fear of Y2K, a computer glitch that would start the new century, Sept. 11, 2001, American Idol, a hurricane called Katrina, landing an airliner in the Hudson and the untimely death of the King of Pop. Happy New Year to one and all!