Did you read the title of this blog post, “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year”? There is a lot of who read the title of this post and assumed I was talking about Christmas. NOPE. Christmas is fine. Christmas is okay. I like the religious side of Christmas and the commercial side turns me off so every Christmas I have a bit of an inner battle with it all. I’ve been doing good this year though…
…but back to “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year!”. For me, I think that day is Winter Solstice. Oh, I love today….well maybe not today. Maybe it’s tomorrow that I love.
I love that the days will be getting longer again. I love the… one minute or so more of daylight that we will be getting each day. I LOVE IT! Can you believe in 30 days, we’ll have about 30 more minutes of daylight each day? YES!!
I am certain I could never live anywhere like Alaska that is dark for so many of the daytime hours. I would just be sad.
Years ago, I picked summer as my least favorite season. As a teen I fell asleep sunbathing and ever since then, I can’t take the heat as well. Once I was married and we had kids, I hated the heat. I think back then it was because we didn’t have central air.
Now, I love summer. I love the options that summer brings. I can walk later in the evening. I can eat supper late. I can garden in the evening. I just feel so much more productive and accomplished in the summer. If I have kids here, I love being outside as many hours as we can during the summer.
As soon as it’s dark in the winter, I have trouble getting myself to do things. I take on a little bit of a hibernation mode. It gets dark and I want to be feet up in the recliner doing some cross-stitch or simply crawl into bed. I have to force myself to keep busy to accomplish things.
I used to love winter thinking about hunkering down and making quilts…loving the excuse that it’s cold I didn’t want to go as many places.
Hmm. That has me thinking, maybe Winter Solstice is more exciting this year because we’ve already been “hunkering down” for so long already this year due to Covid. Whatever it is…this girl is a happy girl as tomorrow, I’ll have one more minute or so of daylight. Let the longer days begin!!
Curiously, what’s your favorite season? Hands down, nowadays, I’d say SUMMER!! Have you changed your favorite season?
I love summer, except when it is so humid I can’t stand to be outside. I love to walk my dog, work in my garden and just sit on the deck in the evening. I also love autumn, crisp days, blue sky, just a little nip in the air so a bon fire or propane fire pit is a treat with a nice hot cup of whatever beverage is your favorite. Spring brings so much promise and hope, but also much rain and grey skies. Winter with the early darkness, and t the long cloudy days are just dreadful. Snow and ice make it hard to get outside and walk. I don’t care what these people from northern European climates say, it is just to cold for me no matter what I am wearing. I too will wait until I can see the day lengthening and my spirit lightening too.
My favorite is summer! My birthday is summer solstice, the longest day of the year and I love all the sunlight!! Although, being an Iowa girl I have a love for all seasons!!
I love winter (and fall, if it is cool). This is my favorite day of the year–tomorrow, when the days start getting longer, I’ll be looking ahead–I love dark, short days!
My favorite is spring. I love seeing the leaves popping out, grass turning green. Planting of flowers. It makes me feel like life is being welcomed to come on out.
AUTUMN that is the favorite for sure. also the day i wake up and thank God for another day. the worst are the ones filled with triple digit temperatures and one can just feel the energy melting away.
I am a Fall lover! My birthday is in September, I always liked the start of school (nowadays they start in the summer almost – gets earlier every year! I love harvest, the cooler temps, the fall sports (except for this year – still waiting for Husker Volleyball to start). I am one who needs sunlight, so I too look forward to tomorrow when we get another minute of sunlight! HUGS… and stitches
Spring is my favorite time of the year! The miracle of things germinating and breaking dormancy.
For many many years, I faced autumn dreading the coming winter, which I equated with depression. Seasonal Affective Disorder. SunBox lights saved me. Since menopause no longer dread coming changes and can enjoy each season. But it was very hard arriving at work in the dark and leaving work again in the dark. Living just above the 49th parallel, means sunrise just after 8a and sunset just after 4p. Conversely, late spring and summer, first light is 4:30a and last light is after 11p. Saturday night dates at the drive-in, we missed the first 20 minutes of the movie as it was too light to see the movie being projected. It was years before I realized the movie ET starts with a forest scene!
I love all the seasons honestly. Winter-skiing and piling on warm clothes, spring-planting, summer-harvesting, fall-cooling down and garden food storage for winter.
And I can quilt through all of them :-) I can read through them all.
Cheers Jo! Enjoy tomorrow :-)
i definitely like fall the best i love the beauty of the trees in shades of orange, reds, yellow, and green. i like the sound of walking through the leaves..I like the coolness in the air, not too hot and not too cold. I’m more inclined to go outside just to savor the days knowing winter is coming. I like fall decorations that I put up. Spring is nice too, but I prefer fall.
I definitely agree with you, Jo. I do not like the days getting shorter and darker early. Ugh!! The solstice means that we niw have hope for a bit more sunshine every day.
Spring is my favorite season, especially because of the longer daylight.
Today is my favorite day of winter. It’s my youngest granddaughter’s birthday.
I like all the seasons but spring is so special. I like the changes living in the midwest. I lived in California 24 + years and missed the seasons dreadfully. Finally got to back here hooray.
Jo when you’re cross stitching what kind of thimble do you use, or do you. I found a deerskin finger protector that allows you to grip and control the needle without my finger sweating like it does in a metal thimble been using it for a long time. Just a FYI. Enjoy the days to come.
I agree that it is so much harder to get things done when there are few hours of daylight after dinner time. Today is my birthday – yep, the shortest daylight hours of the year! But my only consolation is that tomorrow the days start getting longer, albeit slowly :)
I love the other seasons, but not winter!!
I think that because we have had such mild weather (in Nebraska, anyway), it hardly seems like it should be time for the days to get longer.
Hi Jo!
Fall/Autumn is my favorite season. Cool, crisp air, gorgeous clear blue skies, so many glorious colors. The work of the summer is over ( used to be haying season) gardening is done. Time to pick apples and spend the last days out of doors enjoying the beautiful weather!
I LOVE fall and winter! No temps over 55 for me. I hate heat and humidity. I hibernate all summer so I guess I’m opposite most. The older I get the more I hate the heat and humidity. I thought that would be different.
I live 20 minutes southwest of Houston, Texas. We don’t have much of a winter as far as cold and snow go. But I definitely get more down when the days are shorter and it’s dark by 5:30. Like you I look forward to that extra minute more of light each day after the Winter Solstice.
I’ve been counting the past couple of weeks toward the shortest day of the year, like you looking forward to that being over and the beginning of longer days! I HATE the long, dark nights. Summer is my fave as well and I live in TEXAS!! HA Yes, it’s hot many days but the sun is shining for hours! I just get depressed with the long nights and, again like you, there are nights when I look at the clock thinking it’s surely time for bed and it’s only 7pm. UGH!
I am so glad you like 21 December. Today is my wedding anniversary, #45, therefore, I love this day, too. When we married (during our student days at Bible college), we used the church’s Christmas floral decorations for our wedding flowers. Did I say we were poor students?! The processional was “O Come All Ye Faithful” and the recessional was “Joy to the World.” Now when I hear those carols, I think, “They’re playing OUR song.”
I never liked winter because I hate cold weather, so it is nice to have a happy day in the middle of all the dark gloomy days and hectic pace of Christmas preparations.
Oh…I bet your wedding was beautiful Cheryl. I would have loved it!!
Here in my area of Alaska tomorrow, the day after winter solstice, will bring 12 seconds more daylight than today. Yes 12 whole seconds! Winter is dark & dreary up here but then summer is nothing but sunshine! The trade off is pretty good, given the beauty of each season.
I love spring – all things new. Summer in FL is unbearable most of the time.
Love and prayers
I would love summer if it was cold.
If only the 12 months of the year could be divided evenly between the 4 seasons! I could handle 3 months of winter so much easier.
My favorite season is autumn (only problem is it’s too short) – I love the cooler weather and all the colors.
Hands down for me, my favorite season is spring, followed by autumn. Not so fond of summer as its REALLY hot here in Northern California for a good portion of later summer – like over 100 degrees (and up to 110ish). Winter here has been really warm — we still hang up laundry on the line, and enjoy the sunshine, and have to water a bit as we haven’t had that much rain (that will come in Jan – March). I love being able to quilt more in winter, and we are getting the ‘honey do’ list checked off in a hurry this year.
Spring and summer. So many people say fall for the beauty of the changing leaves but in the fall I start dreading the approach of winter and can’t really enjoy it. I also look forward to the winter solstice because I know the the days will start being light longer. I am retired now but when I worked I would leave home in the dark and be in a building all day. On nice days I would usually walk at lunch just so I could see the light of day.
LOL! JO you make me smile. This is the second blog I have read today about the solstice being one of their favorite days:) I used to listen to a guy on talk radio that called himself a “member of the royal order of the 21st-ers”. His feeling was if we can make it to 12/21 we are home free! The older I get the more I agree! I also love this day since it’s my second son’s birthday…a good day all around!
I LOVE Summer! After a seven month long Winter, Spring/Summer are very welcome! Gardening is difficult since we’re zone 2. Summer brings relief from the cold, and slippery roads and walks! We have beautiful sunny days through out the year, but Summer is the best! Looking forward to longer, warmer days. This Winter has not been severe by far, but we need snow pack for Summer watering and recreation too.
Bend, Oregon is such a beautiful place, year round. We love it here!
Of course I have lived in the Midwest most of my life. That means when it is warm out and dark it has to be at least 9 pm. When I moved to Central America when it was warm out and dark it was 6:30pm. I don’t think I ever adjusted! So hard to convince myself it wasn’t really late!! Now that I am back in the Midwest I too love the extra time every day. What do I like about COVID? I am NOT making the 1 hour each way commute to the office and the 10 hour day I worked. That meant all winter I drove in and back from work in the dark…like you NOT good for mental health. I love looking out my window at the dark and turning on a full spectrum light :)