Happy Solstice!

No matter what our human calendars say, this is the day when the Earth's year ends and begins. Today, for those of us in the northern hemisphere, the sun turns around toward us again.

(You might think this is a day early, but no! The northern winter solstice occurs this year on December 22 if you're living along the Prime Meridian—technically, about 00:22 UT—but it falls on December 21, 2006, at 4:22 p.m. in the Pacific time zone. Solstice science here and here.)