Here's the view...

...from our second-story balcony a few hours before sunset on this, the shortest day of the year.

The Winter Solstice took place today at 5:03 PM in Chicago. According to timeanddate.com, we had a little over nine hours and seven minutes of daylight, the fewest all year. (By the end of the month we'll be up to nine hours and eleven minutes. Woohoo!)

During the Winter Solstice, the Sun is directly overhead of the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere, as in the picture above.

The Solstice occurs when the Sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, when the North Pole is tilted furthest – 23.5 degrees – away from the Sun.

Huh? Whatever. Happy Winter Solstice!