From Accuweather.com:

The winter solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, which takes place this year on Dec. 21 at 12:11 p.m. EST. In the weeks that follow, the sun’s most direct rays will migrate northward and reach the equator on the first day of astronomical spring. The south-north migration of the sun in the sky is caused by the tilt of the Earth’s axis and the movement of the Earth around the sun.

What to do on the shortest day of the year, also called the winter solstice? For me it was an afternoon of pool maintenance, skimming and sweeping the pool following our rainstorm the other night. That rainstorm – we got a nice little middle-of-the-night thunderstorm and 1/3″ inch of rain – finished off what has been one of the wettest years on record here in the Valley of the Sun. We usually get an average of 8.07″ of rain annually, this year we got around 8.5″. Doesn’t sound like much, but when you live in the desert Southwest…

Now that my sister-in-law and her bird and rabbits have arrived for an extended stay, we’ll celebrate the arrival of winter with a little gathering filled with finger foods and Christmas movies. I’m certain “It’s A Wonderful Life” will be one of the movies on the menu. In that regard, PowerLine Blog’s Scott Johnson has an interesting post about this Christmas classic that’s worth a read.

Tomorrow I’ll be making my arrangements for our annual Goodboys Las Vegas weekend. It’s not really the New Year until we hit Vegas in February. This year we’re moving our trip to the last weekend in February instead of the first to try and catch some better weather for golf, which is OK – as I told “Doggy Duval” today, the anticipation is almost as much fun as the weekend itself.

A happy winter solstice to you all!