Midwinter's Day - The Winter Solstice

This is the sun at midday on Midwinter's day. At least we are seeing the sun today! This is the shortest day of the year, in the northern hemisphere, and this is the lowest the noontime sun ever gets in Sundsvall.
Further north in Sweden, beyond the Artic Circle, the sun isn't getting over the horizon at all today. In fact in Abisko, one of the more northerly settlements, the sun set around lunchtime 16 days ago and won't be rising again until about 6 January. I think I may find that a little too dark, though the 32 days in the summer when the sun never sets may be more fun.
We were in Sundsvall because Jan had an appointment at the hospital but once in the big town we used the visit to have an outside visit with two groups of friends, passing on presents, and then a quick trip to the alcohol shop. I almost didn't go in because there was a queue outside but I remembered being told the queue moved quickly. As people came out more were allowed in. It took about two minutes to get in and once inside it was far less crowded than usual, actually a very pleasant experience.  I did note a few shoppers who, judging by their shopping trolley, were either going to be having a lot of people home for Christmas, or were going to spend the entire holiday in a state of inebriation!
We are now finishing off the day with some delightful spelt crispbread, home baked by Annika, one of the people visited in Sundsvall. I have the recipe....