As a child I lived in West Berlin for almost 4 years, from 1952-1955. It was a very interesting and informative experience for me being in a different country and learning a new language and learning about different cultures and customs, among other things.
Christmas was a really big deal in Germany. Lots of fancy decorations and such. We loved to go downtown to the big department store, the KaDeWe to see the really fascinating, high quality animated window displays. The toys in Germany were fabulous, having been beautifully crafted in the old world tradition. My brothers got fabulous train sets one year and I got a pretend store, completely stocked with perfect miniature products. Wish my parents had saved that for me.
Anyhow…
One New Years Day a chimney sweep came to our front door, and we were told by our German housekeeper that it was good luck to see a sweep on New Years Day and that we should shake hands with him for luck in the coming year, which we did. Whether or not we had good luck, I can no longer recall, but I’d never seen a chimney sweep before so it was a pretty interesting and memorable event, regardless.
Here is a photo of that very sweep from 1953. I hope he brings all of us some good luck. I know I could sure use some this year. 
Happy New Year!