Today is the shortest day of the year, for those of us in the northern hemisphere. Starting tomorrow, the days start to get longer . . . definitely a reason to celebrate.
Yes, but thanks to the whole geothermal thing, it’s going to keep getting colder for about a month yet before the weather starts improving. I generally save my preliminary celebratin’ for March, when the mercury is noticeably on the rise and it won’t be long before the snow is gone.
/Mr. Wet Blanket
The days will be getting longer! YIPPEE!
Gonna be lighting some candles tonight to celebrate. Remember - it IS the reason for the season! 
Maybe I’ll celebrate tomorrow when the days actually starting getting longer.
You beat me to it, panache!
Happy Solstice to you and everyone!
We had a bit of breakfast in the breakroom today, and I distributed crackers. I think about half of the people hadn’t seen them before; but I wrote some doggerel, which I printed out and taped to the sides. So everyone was wearing their paper hats and reading the mottos and liking the gifts. (I like the crackers from Costco. They have nice gifts in them.)
Continental breakfast and fun! A nice way to kick off the start of the longer days! 
yay for another holiday,but I won’t be happy til Equinox.
Happy solstice!
Is holly toxic to burn? Need answer… if not fast, then soon-ish.
Yes, statistically, the coldest day of the year is January 21 . . . another day to celebrate.
I’m having a friend over to roast a chicken. I’m vigiling all night and then heading out in the morning to watch the sunrise.
Matt’s Friend: Boy, this chicken! What a birdbrain! Keeps crossing the road, but doesn’t know why!
Eh, why not celebrate early and often?
So, can I balance an egg today or not?
Agreed!
Yes. You can balance an egg any time if you have a steady hand, the time of year has nothing to do with it.
Vigil and cookie-baking for me tonight - the cookies are to be brought in to my work tomorrow. I’ll be using my MIL’s cookie recipe and cutters, hopefully she has a bunch that are Yule-specific.
I wonder where I can buy a sun-shaped cookie cutter? I suppose I could just use a circle…I’m sure she has trees, probably something wreathy as well.
I am gonna be such a mess at work tomorrow…
I don’t care about the cold nearly as much as I care about the light. Yay, light!
Happy Solstice.
My uncle claims that due to the earth wobbling ever-so-slightly on its axis, the day is currently asymmetrical around what we define as noon. In other words, from now on it will start to get darker later in the evenings, but in the mornings the sun will continue to come up at the same time for another few days, until it “bounces” back and starts getting lighter earlier too.
This sounds like a crock to me, but he is a very clever guy, and a scientist, so I wonder if he’s right?
He is. Check a sunrise and sunset calendar for your location. The exact details vary with your location (particularly your latitude).
The earliest sunset here in Pittsburgh was around December 7 this year, and the latest sunrise will be around January 5.
You’re farther north than I am, so not only does your earliest sunset happen earlier in the day than ours, it happens closer to the winter solstice. Yours was around December 12, and your latest sunrise will be around December 30.
In Honolulu, the earliest sunset was around November 26, and the latest sunrise will be around January 17. It doesn’t make a lot of difference there, though, since the sunrise and sunset times don’t change much overall in the tropics. I think we need to take a research trip there to confirm that, though.
Thanks Anne Neville! Family harmony is restored.
Whereas today we enjoy our longest day: 14 hours and 25 minutes between sunrise and sunset.