Merry Christmas to everyone on this wonderful forum

[Eff2013]

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Hope you all have a restful holiday. This forum has been very helpful to me. Thank you all.

 

[Harpy]

Merry Christmas to you too eff, hope your pain levels are low for the holidays.
chocolate

 

[cookiebaker]

Happy Holidays to everyone!
Stay safe this holiday season, and many wishes for a (relatively) pain free one!

 

[Harpy]

Hard to believe that Christmas Day is over for this year.
Hope everyone had a beautiful day. Now into Boxing Day . oh why oh why do I eat so much lol. It’s just all to yummy.

 

[crazydoglady]

Hi Harpy. This might sound like a silly question. Do you know what & why boxing day is?

 

[Harpy]

G’day crazy dog lady,
Boxing Day, in Great Britain and some Commonwealth countries, particularly Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, holiday (December 26) on which servants, tradespeople, and the poor traditionally were presented with gifts.
Really just another public holiday .

 

[Rainbow]

Hope everyone felt the love & had some joy this Christmas.

The Winter Solstice has been & gone, so we have turned the corner now
& the light & the warmth is on it's way back to us,

which is something we can all be happy & thankful for, I know I am.

Can't wait to see the first snowdrops!

Be blessed, be the best you can be & have joy beyond your circumstances in the New Year,

love to all X

 

[Badger]

Best wishes for what can be a difficult period for us. Hoping everyone may have been able to have their own moments of joy. Even if they are few and fleeting. These moments are our own and cannot be unmade.

 

[Harpy]

G’day rainbow, could you please explain what your winter solstice is?
Here in Australia it’s getting hotter, I don’t mind the heat , much rather it than winter .

 

[cookiebaker]

G’day rainbow, could you please explain what your winter solstice is?
Here in Australia it’s getting hotter, I don’t mind the heat , much rather it than winter .

Winter Solstice (for the Northern Hemisphere) happens in December - either the 21st or the 22nd - and is the day of the year with the fewest hours of sunlight.. it is the official start of "Winter".
The same day for the southern hemisphere would be the Summer Solstice - ie: the longest daylight hours of the year...
In June, the Solstices are flipped for the Northern & Southern hemispheres - summer solstice in the North & winter in the South

Equinoxes are the days of equal daylight and night hours (12 hrs each).. there are two of those, one in the spring (March), and one in the fall (September). These are the same for both northern & southern hemispheres.

All has to do with the tilt of the Earth's axis as it moves around the Sun.

 

[Rainbow]

Winter Solstice (for the Northern Hemisphere) happens in December - either the 21st or the 22nd - and is the day of the year with the fewest hours of sunlight.. it is the official start of "Winter".
The same day for the southern hemisphere would be the Summer Solstice - ie: the longest daylight hours of the year...
In June, the Solstices are flipped for the Northern & Southern hemispheres - summer solstice in the North & winter in the South

Equinoxes are the days of equal daylight and night hours (12 hrs each).. there are two of those, one in the spring (March), and one in the fall (September). These are the same for both northern & southern hemispheres.

All has to do with the tilt of the Earth's axis as it moves around the Sun.

Thanks for explaining for Happy on my behalf Cookie, all I know is it's the shortest day/longest night here in the UK, so it's always been a major milestone in our part of the world & how great is it that we have Yuletide, Solstice, Christmas & New Years Eve all around the same time of year, so no excuse for not celebrating any one of them, or all of them, in any way you can!

 

[cookiebaker]

@Rainbow you are very welcome.. i know you dont get in here every day, so thought i would chip in so Harpy didnt have to wait for an answer.

The thing I always found interesting is that the weather AFTER the solstice typically goes further to the extreme shortly after.. ie: much colder after winter solstice, and much warmer after summer solstice..

 

[JayCS]

The thing I always found interesting is that the weather AFTER the solstice typically goes further to the extreme shortly after.. ie: much colder after winter solstice, and much warmer after summer solstice..

To be able to brace myself better, I've divided the winter up into first dark winter, then bright winter, and summer into first bright summer, then dark summer. I love the brightness, but I also love the darkness - better sleep, "warm, but not hot" (indoors) and comfortable etc. So I can see and emphasize each good bit. I know longer have favourite seasons, I love the variation.
And my interest and activity in our garden has brought up another positive mindscrew: Looking in detail at all plants, I've seen that most trees & shrubs now already have tiny buds before the colder winter. And I've read contrary to what people around me believed that frost and snow is good for the plants, not bad. Both demonstrate "how wonderful life is". And give hope: New life is already sprouting before the supposedly "dead season", what a deep image.

 

[cookiebaker]

that frost and snow is good for the plants, not bad.

most definitely. many flowering bulbs require that deep cold in order to bloom again at the right time.

i just find it odd that as the days are getting longer, the temperatures are falling - kind of a counterintuitive thing.. you would think that longer days would mean warmer temps, however slight, but it is instead the opposite for a good couple of months.

 

[Harpy]

Thanks for your replies to my lack of knowledge on winter solstice is.
Learn something new every day lol.
Sorry I didn’t get back to the forum early I actually have had a good amount of pottering in my little area, my upside down orchids are heavenly. So getting other orchids repotting and hanging up. Oh boy it takes it out of ya but well worth it,
Below is just one of my bromeliads.

How beautiful are the upside down orchids? To me they look like a grumpy person.

Below is a Hoya flowering.