Today was the earliest setting of the sun. (from now on the sunset will be later and later, although the daily difference will be very slight for the next fortnight or so.)
Tonight marks the start of the Yuletide season. So:-
I wish you a good Yule, with much revelry and feasting, Viking style.
Those Vikings certainly knew how to handle wintery weather. Gather in a large, wooden hall (wood is an excellent heat insulator) with a huge central fire-place and then use the fire to roast joints of meat, washed down with beer and mead.
Huh! I never knew how to tell when the "yule tide" begins. Good to know!
We had our earliest sunset of the year last week in my corner of the world. Tonight sunset will be at 5:52pm and the sun will continue to come up later and later for a while yet too, tomorrow's sunrise will be 7:03am.
Glad I live in a climate where I can gather outdoors in the open air, around a firepit or at the beach for merriment under the stars and still roast something over a fire and drink beer or mead. It just might be veggie hotdogs or shrimp and s'mores, but that's a modern regional tribute to Viking style Yule for my group.
Good Yule to you -- or I've heard it said God Jul also, which is my nickname, well not the God part, except in my own mind, haha!
God Jul to you. (God being Norse for good, of course.)
My kid has moved to the Netherlands, she is about 700 miles north of where she used to live. She says she really notices it.