Merry winter solstice!

It does not really matter what we call it - Christmas, Yule, Solstice, Hanukkah, ... - this is the time to sit together. To rest, and be merry, and share warmth and friendship and food. For these are the things that will keep us alive during the winter months. We tend to forget this, living with central heating and discount grocery stores around the corner. And I am not talking, "Be grateful for what you have got, there are people freezing and starving." (Although that is true as well.)

I am talking about the other cold. And the pressure that others put on us, and the pressure we put upon ourselves. We deserve to rest, and others deserve to rest as well.

Hence rest, and be merry, and share warmth and friendship and food.