Contrary to wanting to sit in stillness, I find myself rushing to post today’s writing.  My goal is to post this before the last rays of this short day recede beyond the horizon. Today, here in Ocean Shores, the sun will shine for only 8 hours and 25 seconds.
Winter Solstice this year comes with the promise of a full moon, and a meteor shower later tonight.  But best of all is that, here at the coast, we have clear skies with a few billowy clouds and no light pollution.
Winter Solstice is an invitation to slow down.  It is an invitation to listen, to be attentive, to savor what little light comes our way.  Winter Solstice is glancing out the window and admiring the Winter Trees.
Winter Solstice is bundling up and taking a brisk walk. Winter Solstice is a bright burning fire in the wood stove and a cup of hot tea.
I am including a poem, Winter Trees, by William Carlos Williams, as well as an anonymous poem, followed by some of my favorite winter solstice photos I’ve taken over the years.

Winter Trees by William Carlos Williams

All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.

From the reaches of the north,
a place of cold blue beauty,
comes to us the first winter storm.
Wind whipping, flakes flying,
the snow has fallen upon the earth,
keeping us close,
keeping us together,
wrapped up as everything sleeps
beneath a blanket of white.