The Countdown

25 November 2012
2:01 PM

Sunrise at	10:02 AM	in direction	144°	Southeast
Sunset at	3:13 PM	in direction	216°	Southwest

Duration of day: 5 hours, 11 minutes (5 minutes, 51 seconds shorter than yesterday)

I admit, the countdown has started.  "Countdown to what?" you say.  "Aren't you a little old to still be counting down to Christmas?"  Well, to answer all you stuffed shirts, no one is ever too old to open presents early in the morning with family all around, while it is still dark outside and everyone is sipping tea and cocoa.  But, that is not what I am marking off on the calendar.

Twenty-six days until the really big winter for me - Winter solstice.  I am NOT kidding.  The most important day of early winter is solstice when the days begin to lengthen again.  If you read my early blogs during the year, you will remember that I was as totally obsessed about the return of light as I now am about its decrease.

But, solstice is coming.  Yes, my friends, the earth's northern hemisphere orbit away from the sun reaches its farthest point and the decline into darkness shifts beyond this magical point.  I say magical because it is.  The magic that we have arrived, formed, and endured and spent days on a planet so perfectly situated from the sun to not be too hot, nor too cold is magic.  That the planet is beautiful beyond all belief is magic.  That we, despite our most determined attempts, have not yet destroyed it or ourselves is magic.

Rebirth at winter solstice is what makes the traditional northern hemisphere's Christmas season magical.  We give thanks for the constants of our planets relationship to the sun and how that relationship allows us to live yet another year in the magical kingdom.