Happy Solstice to You!

John's been trying to convince me that we should start celebrating solstice rather than Christmas--it's his attempt to get us to open the gifts just a few days earlier. While I admire the sentiment, especially because I'm just as eager as he is to begin unwrapping, we'll be waiting until the 25th. :)

So here's a lovely poem from Deborah for the shortest day of the year. May it be a good one for each of you!

The Shortest Day
By Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!