On the assumption that little will be read these next two days, little will be written.

Merry Christmas and/or happy fourth day (and pending fifth candle) of Hannukah. There appear to be no Muslim holidays pending, but the new moon rolls around the day after tomorrow, a matter noticed and celebrated by, among others, all our Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan and other assorted pagan readers.

In addition to its other significances, today marks the 15th day of the coldest 90 days of the year, according to the meteorologists at the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, who inform us that–forget the solstice–the year’s coldest quarter in these precincts commences every December 10.

To those who dislike the cold, cheer up! You’re one-sixth through it. For us cold lovers, we’d better get going–only 75 more days to enjoy before the tepid period begins in March.

This was a bizarrely warm Christmas eve and Christmas day. That’s not supposed to last. So put another log on the fire. Serious dispatches will resume Monday.–Jon Margolis

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 25th, 2008 at 10:40 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.