It’s the middle of December. The sunrise in Los Angeles today is roughly 7am and the sunset is around 5:30. That’s just over ten hours of daylight. Not a lot of time to soak up the vitamin D. In Gnome Alaska, sunrise is at 9 and sunset is at 3. That’s a very short day.
The bears are hibernating, the trees are barren, the cloudy skies hide the sun from view. It’s dark. It’s cold. Whatcha gonna do about that, huh?
Throw a party! What else?
One time, in the middle of the darkest night, someone had a crazy idea: I know! Let’s bring a tree in from outdoors and decorate it with lights and shiny things. Then, let’s go out into the cold and walk around and sing to anyone who’ll listen. Then we’ll come back, light a big fire, give each other gifts and eat our brains out.
Yeah! it’s dark out! So what? Light a candle, in fact, let’s light five or seven of eight of them at once. We’ve gotta balance this shit out.
Fact is, the world literally gives us lemons this time of year-- literally! The trees are full of them-- My friends, it’s time to squeeze one of those babies into a cup of hot water, add a shot of bourbon and a spoonful of honey and sip that shit while we wait for the bearded fat man with the sprig of holly in his hair to stop by and bestow upon us a gift or two. It’s time to party like a new baby’s been born. It’s time to celebrate victory over oppression. It’s time to honor all cultures, to imagine a better future by focussing on family and community.
This is the turning point of the year, my friends. It’s not getting any darker. On December 22, the sun rises a minute earlier, it sets a minute later and it keeps getting brighter and brighter every day. Count on it. Our long march into darkness is finally over. Let’s party!
