Winter

It’s coming. In the middle of our preparation for Christmas and ringing in the new year, it starts to cast its long, dark shadow. Many of us are distracted by the colorful lights, wrapping gifts, going to see Santa, the aroma of Christmas cookies, hoping all the relatives get along that we don’t see it looming. But next week, at 5:44am on Wednesday, December 21st the longest three months of the year arrives on the shortest day. Winter. The sun will rise at 7:51am. You may even see it if it’s not cloudy, or raining, or sleeting, or our biggest fear, snowing. It only stays around for a little more than eight hours, and sets at 4:36pm. But the kids will be starting their Christmas vacation. They will be excited about the big day coming. Parents will be crazed shopping, decorating and trying to keep the kids under control. The following week many people take vacation, and it’s the run up to New Year’s eve and parties. College football playoffs, and New Year’s day bowl games. But we all have to wake up January 2nd.

Then it sets in. January, February, and the first three weeks of March. The season of cold and darkness. I know there are built in breaks that are suppose to make us feel better, the three day holiday weekends of Martin Luther King’s birthday day in mid January and Presidents’ Day weekend in mid February. As we try to push through February, the shortest month that feels like the longest, there is the Super Bowl and Valentines Day. But we are still spending most of the time indoors running from house to car, to work, to store wrapped in layers and puffy coats. There’s no running out in shorts and a tee shirt as we would in the summer. Dressing takes some thought, and don’t forget the all important hat. You may even want to wait until spring to get a haircut. Actor Bryan Cranston had to shave his head to play the evil Walter White on “Breaking Bad”. Cranston said, “I’m telling you, until I shaved my head, I never realized how much heat is lost through the top of the head. I walk out in the winter and it feels like I have an ice pack on my head. Unbelievable.”

We’ll spend days being frightened by local weather forecasters predicting snow, and warning us how bad it’s going to be. This will be good for business at Home Depot and Lowes, and for supermarkets where people will rush to stock up for food they may need when they think they will be stuck in their homes for days, which almost never happens. The skiers, sky resort operators, and the guy you pay to plow your driveway are among the minority who like this season of darkness. There is even a disease caused by the winter. It’s called Seasonal Affective Disorder, appropriately known as “SAD”. This a kind of depression caused by lack of sunlight. I guess you can call it the seasonal opposite of too much sun, sunburn. But you can come in, get out of the sun, and cool off and avoid sunburn. With SAD, you are stuck inside, and you don’t want to go outside because there’s no sun, and it’s too damn cold. Isn’t this why most people prefer spring and fall?

There is a some ray of hope that starts on December 22nd. The hours of daylight will slowly get longer by a few seconds or minutes every day until we reach the longest day of the year usually June 21st. Then the cycle starts all over again, with each day getting shorter until we find ourselves back on December 21st next year. Hall of Fame baseball player Rogers Hornsby, who made his living in the sunshine, said this about winter, “People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” So, go to the window. It will be dark soon.