Happy New Year
In the US. New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year. People in almost every country celebrate this day as a holiday. The celebrations are both festive and serious. Many people make New Year's resolutions to break bad habits or to start good ones. Some think about how they have lived during the past year and look forward to the next 12 months.
Although the date for New Year's Day is not the same in every culture, it is always a time for celebration and for customs to ensure good luck in the coming year. In France, families gather and exchange gifts and greeting cards. Children often present their parents with homemade gifts to wish them Bonne Annee. In Italy, a piece of mistletoe is hung over the front door to bring good luck to the entire household. In Scotland, people bring delicious cakes and cookies to parties. It is believed that the first person to enter a house will receive good luck. "Auld Lang Syne," the traditional New Year's song, was written by a Scottish poet, Robert Burns, 200 years ago.
Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of Auld Lang Syne.
For Auld Lang Syne, my dear, for Auld Lang Syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet for Auld Lang Syne.
Dinner Traditions ~ Many nationalities believe that anything in the form of a ring is lucky since it symbolizes completion of the year's cycle. Black-eyed peas, in some sections of the country, are considered to bring luck as well as pork. Ham is traditional to many nationalities. Cabbage is highly regarded as lucky by German and Swedish communities, and salmon is the lucky dish of the Northwest. But the finder of the money in a coin cake is the most fortunate of all.
In the United States, the New Year's celebrations that are
familiar to us today were originated in the 1750s by the Dutch in New Amsterdam.
Today, we make New Year's resolutions. We decide to "turn over a new leaf" and
improve ourselves in some way during the new year.
Many people have big parties on New Year's Eve. Children are often permitted to
stay up until midnight, when "Old Father Time" with a long white beard is
replaced by the "New Year's Child" dressed only in diapers.
There are also special New Year's traditions in various parts of the country. In
New York City, tens of thousands of celebrants crowd into Times Square to await
the dropping of a large, lighted ball from the top of a skyscraper precisely at
midnight on New Year's Eve. The occasion, shown on television, triggers
celebrations all across the United States.
On New Year's Day in Philadelphia, thousands of people dress in elaborate
costumes and dance through the main streets in the daylong Mummers' Parade. In
Pasadena, the Rose Bowl football game is preceded by the Tournament of Roses
Parade-marching bands from all parts of the United States and hundreds of floats
covered with fresh flowers make this a festive celebration. Several other bowl
games are also played around the country to end the college football season.
Betcha didn't know this... Did you know the average child
laughs 400 times a day?
And that the average adult only laughs 70 times per day?
Somewhere in the course of growing old we loose 330 laughs.
That's a lot of laughs! So lighten up and laugh!
You'll be much happier. Make this year a Year of Laughs. 
