Perhaps it's not seen in publications as often as it used to be, but the traditional cartoon of the current calendar year depicted as an old man about
to pass on, and the coming new year drawn alongside him as a baby or toddler, wearing a banner with the coming year on it, has a long history.
This CNN article gives a quick historical picture of how the modern cartoon version of this cultural icon came about
. (And it is an icon, as a websearch illustrates that it has been common in many cultures throughout history to represent the new year as a newborn baby):
https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/29/living/baby-new-year-origin-feat/index.htmlIt tells us:
"The black-capped toddler has been a holiday staple since the dawn of the 20th century, when the Saturday Evening Post began publishing humorous illustrations of babies on the covers of its year-end editions."
"The original Baby New Year was born in ancient Greece, according to Britannica.com. It was reportedly customary to display an infant in a basket for the turn of the calendar. During the late 1400s, Germans depicted him as a religious figure signifying Baby Jesus. He was secularized by newspaper cartoonists in the 19th century, and he went pop after the Saturday Evening Post put him on the cover in a top hat."
"When Baby New Year was popularized in 19th-century editorial cartoons, Father Time tagged along as his elderly counterpart, a symbol of the past year." So the image is still with us, and it's highly likely we'll be seeing at least one version of it somewhere over the next couple of days.
And here are some examples of different versions of the cartoon that have appeared over the years:
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=acybgnqyqrt2qrl9pgsmjaen4vdqrll58q:1577199297470&q=new+years+cartoon+old+man+baby&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=x&ved=2ahukewjrkvaexc7mahuyvs0khrgra_aqsar6bagjeae&biw=1600&bih=758So at this point you can envision a happy, grinning toddler tipping his top hat to you and wishing you a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!