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Original poster

Tell me some nice things, it's the shortest day tomorrow (Thursday) and everyone is sad.

55 replies

EeesandWhizz · 20/12/2023 00:24

It's the shortest day tomorrow and I'm really hoping that everyone will cheer the fuck up soon.

It's too dark and grey, and the day is far too short, the youth group that I am involved is all falling out with each other, Elf didn't record properly and I've come on here for a bit of light relief, and not one happy thread in the first 4 refreshes of the 'trending' box, come on people, someone must have some happy/funny news and views?

Please tell me some nice things.

OP posts:
GonnaNeedABiggerBag · 20/12/2023 08:20

Christmas will soon be over and Spring will be with us soon - the years continue and flowers will bloom. I too have bulbs peaking through the earth.

I love January for its promise of renewal.

Igiveupagain · 20/12/2023 08:43

Another shortest day birthday here. Always felt short changed but now I do what I want for me, which tomorrow means brunch with my best friend and her sister in law (who I also consider a friend) then who knows but it will be me focused and the best bit is NO work.

Inastatus · 20/12/2023 08:47

@DowntonCrabby - like that joke, hopefully I’ll remember it to re-tell!

dudsville · 20/12/2023 08:51

I keep getting caught out by the dark! This is so stupid but two days of the week I'm in meetings from 1 until 5 pm. It's dark out when i finally emerge and it seems somehow unexpected and foreboding. It's the most ridiculous thing ever and i just shrug it off, but I'm older, this is not my first winter, why is this happening?!

Love the glory days link!

Sundaefraise · 20/12/2023 08:53

I think the shortest day is Friday 22nd this year.

The good news is that’s when all schools will have broken up for Christmas and all those tired dc can have a well deserved rest.

TheDandyLion · 20/12/2023 09:03

I think the shortest day is Friday 22nd this year.

Correct. And the solstice isn't about the shortest day it is the passing of the longest night. So do all the hibernation things. Sleep longer, Hot chocolate, hugge etc..

DwightDFlysenhower · 20/12/2023 09:15

I bumped into an old schoolfriend in the supermarket yesterday, and she invited me around for coffee and cuddles with her six-week old baby. Smile

So I've bought her some nice biscuits and am going around on Friday.

Original poster
EeesandWhizz · 20/12/2023 09:17

Oh bugger, you're right, it's Friday, boo hiss.

But Michelle Obama with a tambourine balances this bad news out. Thank you people, today is starting off better.

OP posts:
SleepyRooster · 20/12/2023 09:21

NASA just released a new pic of an exploded star, Cassiopeia A. Isn't it beautiful?

Tell me some nice things, it's the shortest day tomorrow (Thursday) and everyone is sad.
TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 20/12/2023 09:36

The eccentric millionaire who owns bonkers but brilliant tourist attraction The Forbidden Corner in the Yorkshire Dales has been rescued after having been kidnapped in Ecuador by drug barons.

maddiemookins16mum · 20/12/2023 09:41

I know I’m ridiculous but, the BBC weather page says that from about 5th Jan, Sunset is a minute a day later. It will be light at 5pm by 14th Feb and by about the 3rd week in Jan, the supermarkets will have those cheap and cheerful bunches of daffs on sale. We are way closer to spring 24 than we realise.
Oh and Junior Bake Off starts on the 2nd Jan and CTM must be on soon too.

Twoshoesnewshoes · 20/12/2023 09:44

Another 21st baby here
i was very ginger when I was born and my mum thought I looked like a baked bean.

Vinvertebrate · 20/12/2023 09:44

My DH is from Iran and we celebrate Yalda - the longest night - by staying up all night late, eating sweets and fruit and drinking red wine. It's a lovely tradition.

ArchetypalBusyMum · 20/12/2023 09:46

Elf is on at the cinema where I live this week, 20 year anniversary or something... So maybe your failed recording was just the catalyst to show you to see it on the big screen instead!

Also, winter solstice is a good excuse for a night hike round here, with the moon and stars (if you're lucky), and owls and hares to disturb as you explore the world while it's sleeping. A little nip of something warm at the top of the hill and look forward to the days getting longer.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 20/12/2023 09:58

maddiemookins16mum · 20/12/2023 09:41

I know I’m ridiculous but, the BBC weather page says that from about 5th Jan, Sunset is a minute a day later. It will be light at 5pm by 14th Feb and by about the 3rd week in Jan, the supermarkets will have those cheap and cheerful bunches of daffs on sale. We are way closer to spring 24 than we realise.
Oh and Junior Bake Off starts on the 2nd Jan and CTM must be on soon too.

Edited

The cheap daffs are the turning point for me.

meditrina · 20/12/2023 10:00

It is also the longest night.

Do you have someone to hand with whom you could vigorously enjoy all the possibilities that brings?

123ZYX · 20/12/2023 10:10

You can watch the sun rise at the end of the longest night at Stonehenge on the English heritage YouTube page on Friday morning.

Also, while sunrise will continue to get a bit later for another week or two, sunset is already getting later and has been for a few days. So we're already past the worst of the dark evenings

Undineimmor · 20/12/2023 10:19

Op often pre Christmas tension causes fall outs which are magically healed after Christmas. Have faith

romany4 · 20/12/2023 10:30

@PilatesPeach

It's been such a tough year while DH recovered from his stroke. He'll never be back to normal but to have him here is all that matters.

Thank you for your kind words

Oceangirl82 · 20/12/2023 11:38

Last year my husband (together 32 years) left me, after the initial shock I’m having the time of my life 🥳
Wedding anniversary was 21st and we used to celebrate with a box champagne truffles. Still buy them but now have them but now they are for me 🥳

Oceangirl82 · 20/12/2023 11:42

Where’s the edit button gone?

Friedfriedplantain · 20/12/2023 11:48

It's the solstice tomorrow! I'm stuck overseas at post w/ dh & kids so won't see UK or family for Christmas but the sun is shining brightly outside, I have a fridge full of vegetables, 1 year old is on my lap eating a cracker. I've got more words on my novel this week than in the whole month before and my head is buzzing with ideas. Finally neither of the kids has a bug. Half the city has gone off to various homes and it feels quiet and mysterious here with the trade wind blowing sand in from the desert far away. The solstice is the darkest time, time for germinating things. Rest if you can, it's been a fucking exhausting year, you have every right to feel depleted. Read an easy book this evening or watch a dumb movie in bed? Soon the days will be on the upswing.

Xiaoxiong · 20/12/2023 12:01

Happy/funny news and views:

  • There was a full rainbow when I walked the dog this morning
  • Ddog is 5 months and absolutely adorable and everyone loves him
  • I've finally stopped coughing after weeks of being ill so feeling great
  • Just started reading Little Drummer Girl by John le Carre and can't wait for the long night to make a cup of tea and read read read (particularly with what's going on in Gaza at the moment, it's so topical and JLC at his best I think)
  • We got a new board game called Quoridor and have been playing it loads
  • DS1 (age 12) has figured out how the washing machine and tumble dryer work and did a load of family washing
  • DS2 (age 10) made dinner yesterday for everyone with minimal help from us and it was brilliant
  • DS1 & DS2 are getting on like a house on fire at the moment and last night chatted and laughed in bed after lights out for ages
  • MIL and her partner and BIL came over last night, and we had fairy lights up in the house and lit loads of candles and had party food and a bottle of fizz and it felt wonderfully Christmassy
  • BIL told us he is proposing to his gf on Christmas Eve!!
  • One of my work colleagues got married this weekend and the photos are so lovely, she looks unbelieveably happy and the whole thing was all winter themed with holly and ivy on the tables
LightSpeeds · 20/12/2023 12:04

I was looking up the Winter Solstice yesterday. The sun dies... then is reborn...

THAT's good news!!

InMySpareTime · 20/12/2023 12:35

-I finished my Christmas jigsaw in under a week (which is an achievement given it's 2000 mostly blue pieces)
-DH's Christmas bonus came through and it's enough to fill my LISA for the year with plenty left over.
-I'm spending the day chopping up sweets to make hundreds of Christingle oranges to give out at church on Christmas Eve.
-Tomorrow I'm spending the morning partying with language students, and hearing the hope they have for a successful and prosperous future in Britain is enough to cheer anyone up.

Lastly, a joke:
What did one snowman say to the other?

Can you smell carrots?