The New Year is one of the happiest holidays in Russia. Christmas was a very important Russian holiday before. However, in the past one hundred years, the New Year has taken its place. The New Year is also celebrated with a Christmas tree that has begun to be called a New Year tree. Russian people regard the coming year as the beginning of new life, a chance to make dreams come true. There is a tradition to make a wish while drinking champagne ( 香槟酒 ) . Actually, champagne is the traditional drink of the first half hour of the New Year. And then beer or vodka ( 伏特加酒 ) takes its place. People make a lot of preparations before New Year's Day. They clean their houses and cook a lot of food. Russian New Year is different from American Christmas. It is usually celebrated with friends while in America Christmas is usually celebrated with family. The New Year party is usually a very happy party with a lot of toasts ( 干杯 , 敬酒 ), changing clothes, exchanging presents and congratulating each other. Russians can have a lot of fun on New Year's Day. December 31st is working day, but January 1st and 2nd are holidays, so it is a tradition for p eople to stay awake all night on New Year's Eve. And even children try not to go to sleep for as long as they can. People go out into the streets at night, light New Year trees and put them all around the town. (254 words)