I do not know if this is something to do with the coming new year but have noticed that many popular websites have either gone in for a makeover or added some eye candy for users. Popoular ones include Wall Street Journal (website redesign), Gmail (themes for the mailbox), Yahoo ( website redesign, second time in the last one year). The list is big but these are the ones that come to my mind now.
This post is being made from wordpress 2.7 which comes with a completely new layout. I like it.
Aala Santhosh Reddy 
Nice lay out.
Beautiful theme.. Santhosh..!
Thank you Vinay and Sridevi.
Christmas time mate. Nice design you have.
Tough times calls for innovations and everybody has to innovate to survive now.
So True.