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New Years Day January 1 10...9...8... The lighted ball in New Yorks Times Squarestarts picking up speed. 7...6...5... Its almost time. 4...3...2... Everyone holds their breath for the last few seconds. Were about to jump that seemingly large but invisible gap that separates the years. 1...0... Happy New Year! We made it. The old year, for better or worse, is gone for good. The new year has begun with fresh promise. Heres our chance to start again, to do it right this time, to have another shot at success...at glory...at just accomplishing what we resolve to. Its time to shed that baggage from the year long gone and celebrate what can be in the 365 untouched days to come. Happy New Year! We can trace the origins of a new years celebration back to the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, at least 4,000 years ago. In Egypt, the Nile river signaled a new beginning for the farmers of the Nile as it flooded their land and enriched it with the siltneeded to grow crops for the next year. This happened near the end of September. The Babylonians held their festival in the spring, on March 23, to kick off the next cycle of planting and harvest. Symbolically, the king was stripped of his robes and sent away for a few days while the people whooped it up. He then returned in all his fineryfor a grand parade, and the normal activities of life would return for the new year. | 
