I like New Year's Day, it is my favourite holiday. The 1st of January is a winter holiday and now it is the first day of the New Year.

Peter the First changed the Russian calendar in 1699. He made the 31st of December, 1699 the last day of the year. The first of January 1700 became 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 go to work.

We usually have a very interesting New Year's party at school. We have it on the 28th or 29th of December.

Our family prepares for the New Year's 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. We don't like artificial synthetic trees.  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 make a nice cake. I help them to lay the table. 

All the members of our family clean the flat before the holiday and then each of us try to get dressed well. We like to see the New Year in at home with our relatives. They come to see us by 9 or 10 o'clock in the evening.

At 12 o'clock we sit at the festive table and we are glad to see the New Year in.There are a lot of delicious things on the table and we begin to celebrate the holiday. We say, to each other, "Best wishes for the New Year!" We begin to eat, to joke, to sing songs, to dance to music, to listen to the president's festive speech on TV. Then we watch the holiday salute and sometimes we go to the central square where there are a lot of people welcoming the New Year in!

I hope that the next year will be better than the last one.

The New Year's Day is always connected with our new hopes and dreams.

It is a pleasant moment to get presents on the New Year's Eve.

I usually get many nice useful things from my parents and relatives.

My parents put their presents under the New Year's tree.

We don't go to bed till morning, we continue to watch TV, dance, eat tasty things and make jokes.

I enjoy this holiday very much.