Winter Solstice – when the dark days or winter turn into the light days of summer.

As the Winter Solstice creeps up on us and daylight lasts barely 9 hours up here in Maine, we are thankful for the seasonal celebrations that fill our homes with light and brilliance.  Often around our house at this time of year you will hear laments of ‘but at camp we wouldn’t even have started EP yet!’ as PJ’s are snuggled into and bedtime stories read so much earlier than they would be in the summer.  It is certainly a time for hunkering down, reflecting on the past year and taking time to contemplate the months ahead.

Whether decorating a tree, lighting candles or stringing lights around the house there are plenty of ways to brighten up the dull days and to literally bring in the light.  Luckily  in Maine we now have a lovely coating of snow so the white, brilliance reflects the sunshine and certainly makes our short days more cheerful.

Bringing light into our homes is an ancient tradition to ward off the dark days of winter and celebrate the return of the light. Feasting and decorating have long been practices used to help the long nights pass more quickly.   Can you imagine bringing in a whole tree to burn as they often did in Europe the Yule log was often burned throughought the festive season – it makes our Sunday night Campfires at Runoia look pretty tame!

However you choose to bring in the light at this dark time of year may the memories of the longer days of summer warm your heart and brighten your spirits.  As we celebrate the turn of the earth into longer days we will be counting them down until it is back to summer and our time to gather again on Great Pond.