We woke before the long night was over, packing our white sleigh with provisions to feed many more than the four passengers loading up on this first day of winter.

The winter solstice: the shortest day of the year. As the daylight carves out a shorter chunk of Earth’s 24 hour spin, night grows ever longer. So, as we hear jingling bells and watch snow-sprinkled conifers blur past, I look forward to tonight – the longest night of the year.

I generally prefer daytime, and the more, the better – daylight stretching late into summer evenings brings me more smiles than trudging to and from work in wintry darkness. I generally embrace daytime hours for the many activities daylight sponsors – wakeful things like play and work and errands. I generally welcome the midwinter only for its promise of the start of lengthening, rather than waning, daylight hours (I mean, for real: the only song I know about it has “bleak” in the title).

But today, I look forward to the longest night. Because today, 44 other dear ones are loading their sleds and heading to a cozy place in the woods called Timberdoodle. And since nighttime generally ushers us back indoors – centralizing and condensing and intensifying our hubbub into shared communion – I’m so glad that today’s nighttime is the longest, and so will be the fullest, too.

Happy winter solstice. And may even your darkest nights be transformed into a season of thanksgiving.

🙂