“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June.  My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” -Dr. Seuss

Well, it’s that time of year again folks. We’re nearing the winter solstice and if you ask me, it can’t get here fast enough. The winter solstice, or shortest day of the year, is December 21 and it’s about time because if the days got any shorter, we’d be going to bed right after breakfast.

It’s funny how just because it gets dark it seems like you should be sleeping. How many times have you decided to go to bed, exhausted, and then realized it is barely 6:00? How many times do you need a nap before hitting the hay at 9:00? It’s ridiculous!

This time of year, I would love to be a bear. Bears have it made. All through the fall they gorge themselves then they go to bed and sleep. In fact, I think we all must have evolved from bears because once that first snow comes through, everybody I know just wants to eat everything in sight and then sleep till spring. Wouldn’t that be great? But alas, I’m not a bear.

I’m also not the first one to complain about long nights. People have been wanting to hibernate for centuries. In fact, the word “solstice” is a Latin word for “I wish I was a bear”. But since few humans can hibernate all winter, they have to figure out other ways to spend time until spring.

The ancient Romans celebrated “Saturnalia” which was a major holiday in which everybody ate, drank, and made merry. They did this because if they hadn’t had a chance to make merry, they would have started eating each other.

So anyway, the shortest day of the year is coming, so hang in there, because even though the days are only about six minutes long, we can confidently say, “Summer’s coming!”