Tonight is the longest night of the year, the winter solstice. All night owls rejoice at the wealth of darkness on tap.
Today is the last day of fall, tomorrow the first day of "official" winter. Beginning tomorrow the days start getting longer, a process that terminates on June 21 with the longest day of the year.
It is probably no accident that Christmas was "pegged" at this time of year. Humans have been celebrating the end of the sun's "retreat" for perhaps ten millennia.
