In Praise of Pagans

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the official beginning of winter. Here in Wisconsin, the solstice occurred at 6:42 a.m. Perhaps it was the unique tilt of the earth this morning that accounted for the lovely and somewhat eerie pinky-golden light that greeted us as we rose from bed and opened up the window blinds. A few minutes later, a light snow began to fall. Ancient cultures marked the solstice event with huge bonfires as a way to entice the sun to return. At our house, we have chosen to celebrate by shelling out a couple of hundred bucks to fix our oven's gas flame starter - even though our oven will be history in less than a month due to the kitchen renovation project. It's our little paean to good holiday eating, brought to us via Amana and the Sears appliance repair woman. C'mon back, sol.