My favorite holiday of a year is New
Year's Day. The 1st of January is a winter holiday and now it is celebrated as the
first day of the New Year. Peter the First changed the Russian calendar in
1699. He assigned 1699, 31st as the last day of the year. The first
of January, 1700 is now considered as New Year's Day.
The 1st of January is in the middle of
winter. The weather is usually fine and there is a lot of snow everywhere. As
the 1st of January is a holiday I don't go to school and my parents don't work.
New Year is the most magnificent
holiday of the year. Old year is being finished, and while the new one is
coming everyone is ready to bring something new into life. Our
family prepares for this holiday beforehand. My father buys and brings home a
beautiful New Year's tree at the end of December. Our family has a tradition to
buy it. I like to decorate the New Year's tree with toys, little coloured
lights, sweets and a beautiful star on the top. My mother and grandmother
prepare our holiday supper and lay the table. I make a cake. All the members of
our family clean the flat before this nice holiday and then each of us try to
dress well. It’s considered that the way you enter
the first New Year day, the same way you will live next year. That's why people
usually prepare lots of food and drinks for this holiday, trying not to work on
New Year Eve. People usually dance and play, have a lot of fun and give
presents to each other. After 12 o’clock there are a lot of fireworks and
parades outside. A big New Year tree is set in every significant place of the
city. Father Frost and his granddaughter Snegurochka as the symbols of New Year
congratulate people in these places and everyone has a chance to take a picture
with them.
We like
to spend the New Year Eve at home with our relatives. They always come to visit
us at 11 o'clock in the evening. At 12 o'clock we sit at the table and we happily
congratulate each other with the coming New Year. We say, "Best wishes for
the New Year!". Everybody believes that that next year will be better than
the last one.
The
New Year's Day is always associated with new expectations
and dreams. It is a pleasant moment to get a gift on
the New Year's Eve. I usually get many nice useful things from my parents and
relatives. My parents put their gifts under the New Year's tree. We don't sleep until
morning, we watch TV, dance, eat delicious food and have fun. I
enjoy this holiday very much.