Rise, happy morn

Rise, happy morn! rise, holy morn!

Draw forth the cheerful day from night;

O Father! touch the east, and light

The light that shone when hope was born!

This is from "The Birth of Christ" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, but it could easily be written about the Solstice. Just think what early peoples must have thought when the days kept getting shorter and shorter, and then the joy they felt when they began to see that the daylight was increasing. The world was not coming to an end; it was beginning anew.

I currently live in Florida where the Solstice does not mean very much but I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and later lived for many years in Denver so I know how depressed you can get in the winter. Somehow you stay excited through Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then when you take down the decorations and it's so cold and dark, you can get pretty down. Denver ususally has some of its worst weather just after the new year starts and I can well remember the long commutes in the dark. Dan is watching the both the Miami/Kansas City game and the Arizona/New England game on television today, and it's very cold both places as well as snowing in New England. I can remember looking out the window at work in Denver, seeing snow, and dreading the commute home.

But the new year is also a beginning - I total up our expenses and accomplishments for the past year and make plans for the new one. My big Christmas present this year from Dan is a watercolor class at our art museum, and I am super excited about it. (the reason I know about it is that registration was last week.)

Have a blessed Solstice.