Blessed Yule, Happy First Day Of Winter-Shortest Day Of The Year

 

 Just in case there were some sleepy heads in Blogland last night I have posted a time lapsed video of this morning's early event. I was up but my camera was not. this is the best shot of the eclipse that I got, taken around 2am.

 Just realized the time on the pic says 3:04am. Have to adjust the camera clock cause it was 2am when this shot was taken. Today is the shortest day of the year for daylight. From now on the days will be getting longer. Yea for natural vitamin D from the Sun! Vitamin D is good for you & studies show it even helps decrease your risk of heat attacks. Now that is a great thing my friends. Plus with increased sun light your mood will brighten & it helps chase away the Blue Meanies (thats what I call depression) 

Surveys show that when the sun's UV-B rays hit the skin, a reaction takes place that enables skin cells to manufacture vitamin D. If you're fair skinned, experts say going outside for 10 minutes in the midday sun—in shorts and a tank top with no sunscreen—will give you enough radiation to produce about 10,000 international units of the vitamin. Dark-skinned individuals and the elderly also produce less vitamin D, and many folks don't get enough of the nutrient from dietary sources like fatty fish and fortified milk.

Explanation of Yule from Wikipedia  

Yule or Yule-tide ("Yule-time") is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January on a date determined by the lunar Germanic calendar. The festival was placed on December 25 when the Christian calendar (Julian calendar) was adopted. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt.

Terms with an etymological equivalent to "Yule" are still used in the Nordic Countries for the Christian Christmas, but also for other religious holidays of the season. In modern times this has gradually led to a more secular tradition under the same name as Christmas. Yule is also used to a lesser extent in English-speaking countries to refer to Christmas. Customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from Yule. In modern times, Yule is observed as a cultural festival and also with religious rites by some Christians and by some Neopagans.

So whatever your beliefs I wish you all a great day. Blessed Yule, Happy Shortest Day & Happy First Day OF Winter!

Of course for thosee of you who have been dumped on by snow, you probably don't want to hear about Winter. You want to know when Spring will arrive. Hang in there my Peeps & keep warm!

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