Happy New Year! The calendar says New Years is still eleven days away, but today is the beginning of the new year as far as I am concerned. This morning, at 2:44 am Pacific Time, you could hear the earth creak and groan as it decided it had slept enough and it was time to start waking up. For those of us north of the equator, and especially those of us who live closer to the north pole than the equator, the days will start to get longer. Spring is just around the corner.

Today, the shadows in the northern hemisphere are longer than they will ever be. Longitudinally, I live closer to the north pole than from where I grew up, which explains why the length of day and night didn’t make much of an impression on me as a boy. Now I have a sense of sadness when the summer solstice arrives in late June and the days start to shorten. That is six months away, and until then, it’s time to be happy, happy, happy and enjoy the lengthening days. There are 193 of them to come. Plenty of days to build up enough happiness to last all the way through to the next winter solstice.