Althouse: Christmas sun.

December 25, 2025

Christmas sun.

73 comments:

jim5301 said...: Only 2841 posts so far this year. You’re slowing down. Try for 23 a day and you’ll reach 3000.
Happy new Year!; 12/25/25, 10:35 AM
Meade said...: Make Christmas Sun Great Again!; 12/25/25, 10:39 AM
Jaq said...: "Astronomical solstice: ~December 21–22
Observable turning point: ~December 25
Ancient interpretation: The day the Sun’s reversal became evident, marking the return of longer days"

So normal humans watching the sun without scientific instruments see the days getting longer for the first time on the 25th.; 12/25/25, 10:51 AM
Peachy said...: Marry Christmas, Happy holidays... thanks for the photos and the long cold walks to get them.; 12/25/25, 10:51 AM
Clyde said...: Merry Christmas to Althouse, Meade, and all of the commenters. God bless us every one.; 12/25/25, 10:56 AM
Iman said...: Christmas comes this time each year.; 12/25/25, 10:59 AM
john mosby said...: In ancient times, well, actually the 2000's
Lived this strange race of people, the Meadehouses.
No one knows who they were or what they were doing
But their legacy remains.... hewn.... into the living rock... of Madisonhenge!

Madisonhenge, where the woke ones dwell
Where the lefties live and they do live well
Madisonhenge where a woman's a man
And Antifa dance to the pipes of pan
Madisonhenge, 'tis a magic place
Where the moon doth rise with a dragon's face
Madisonhenge where the Justices lie
And the prayer of devils fills the midnight sky
And you my love, won't you take my hand?
We'll go back in time to that mystic land
Where the dew drops cry and the cats meow
I will take you there, I will show you how
And oh, how they danced
The little children of Madisonhenge
Beneath the haunted moon for fear
That Trump 47 might come too soon
And where were they now
The little people of Madisonhenge
And what would they say to us
If we were here tonight
CC, JSM; 12/25/25, 11:06 AM
Iman said...: Merry Christmas, merry Christmas
Couldn't miss this one this year
Merry Christmas, merry Christmas
Couldn't miss this one this year
Merry Christmas, merry Christmas
Couldn't miss this one this year

https://youtu.be/ZYE7UJSA7k0; 12/25/25, 11:14 AM
Political Junkie said...: Merry Christmas to all, even the bums here.; 12/25/25, 11:20 AM
Political Junkie said...: Jesus loves us all, but the bums here are definitely not his favorites.; 12/25/25, 11:21 AM
Scott Patton said...: Merry Christmas all; 12/25/25, 11:25 AM
Jamie said...: Merry Christmas, all! And happy Festivus (be careful with the Feats of Strength), and happy late Hanukkah, Temujin, and everyone have a wonderful winter holiday however you like to mark the season.; 12/25/25, 11:54 AM
Achilles said...: jim5301 said...

Only 2841 posts so far this year. You’re slowing down. Try for 23 a day and you’ll reach 3000.
Happy new Year!

BIG. ROUND. NUMBERS.; 12/25/25, 11:56 AM
BG said...: Very nice, Meade.
A very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to all.; 12/25/25, 12:24 PM
chuck said...: Merry Christmas to all.; 12/25/25, 12:30 PM
n.n said...: Meade's Melody on Mendota... and a duck dynasty. Nice.; 12/25/25, 12:40 PM
wendybar said...: Merry Christmas everyone!!; 12/25/25, 12:48 PM
Hassayamper said...: Jesus loves us all, but the bums here are definitely not his favorites.

Hey now, Jesus chose to dine with whores and government tax collectors, figuring they needed His redemption more than anyone. I think He and the kakistophage would get along just fine.; 12/25/25, 12:50 PM
Hassayamper said...: But seriously, Merry Christmas to everyone. Peace on Earth; good will towards men.; 12/25/25, 12:52 PM
minnesota farm guy said...: Merry Christmas and thanks to Ann and Meade and to the rest of the commenters here. Joy!; 12/25/25, 12:54 PM
Kakistocracy said...: Peace on earth, goodwill to all.

Children used to worry they’d get a lump of coal in their stocking. But in this deep red Kentucky town, “clean beautiful coal” is exactly what the children are hoping to get.; 12/25/25, 12:58 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: Peace and goodwill to all! Thank you Althouse and Meade, the best hosts.; 12/25/25, 1:02 PM
The Middle Coast said...: Merry Christmas to all on this blog, and to Althouse and Meade for hosting us. Peace to you all.; 12/25/25, 1:08 PM
Brylinski said...: Merry Christmas to all, and thanks to Ann and Meade for this blog!; 12/25/25, 1:18 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: Ditto to all!; 12/25/25, 2:02 PM
buwaya said...: Happy New Year! Unless you are around Benicia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzq9iVnQz3o; 12/25/25, 2:20 PM
john mosby said...: Just watched the King's Xmas speech. Not bad, but after he's done, we're sent off by a Ukrainian choir, in traditional dress, singing Carol of the Bells. In Westminster Abbey. with a British Army band. Bloody fucking Christ. He's the King of a lot of countries, but Ukraine is not one of them. Very dicked up. CC, JSM; 12/25/25, 2:35 PM
john mosby said...: Could have been worse - he could have had Muzzies chanting something at the altar. Mustn't grumble. CC, JSM; 12/25/25, 2:37 PM
buwaya said...: Video above has a good summary of the interlocked regulatory and legal issues that generate unsustainable business expenses for refineries, as well as the impossibility of even substitution for them. The rules and etc. even make it impossible to import sufficient gas & diesel. There is nowhere to unload and store, and no way to provide these facilities within the thicket of regulations and legal risks.

On a broader front these sorts of tangles apply to a large degree to all other industrial concerns in California, as well as agriculture. The tangle also applies to any "green" infrastructure btw., as well as public infrastructure, which has become near-impossible to construct.

Newsom presides over this chaos, though I dont think he is personally responsible for it - he certainly didnt plan any of this, he has been a sleep walker like everyone else. Its been developing for many years. Its the confluence of CA politics, ultimately the voters, and the Sacramento bureaucracy that has walked blindly into these traps.

Happy New Year!; 12/25/25, 2:50 PM
buwaya said...: The Ukrainians are good singers. And he is King over quite a lot of Ukrainians these days, over 200,000 of them in the UK since 2022.
Spain also has 200K+
These are well behaved, productive people btw.; 12/25/25, 3:04 PM
TaeJohnDo said...: Merry Christmas, All!; 12/25/25, 3:08 PM
john mosby said...: All true, but associating them with perhaps the central ceremony of the UK's "secular religion" - the King's Speech - shows a governmental commitment to their cause that no one has had a chance to vote for.

How would you like it if they sang it in Sagrada Familia after Felipe's address? CC, JSM; 12/25/25, 3:09 PM
john mosby said...: Also, Brexit - which people did vote for - was about nothing if it's not about keeping white continental Europeans out of the UK. British workers fear them much more than they fear the various wogs and fuzzy-wuzzies, because they can work to the British standard while accepting a migrant's low wages. Putting this lot in the Abbey, with a backing Army band, just waves Starmer's weiner in the face of all those Brexit voters. CC, JSM; 12/25/25, 3:13 PM
john mosby said...: 200K in a country of 60 million is about 1/3 of 1% - not chopped liver in unemployment or welfare statistics. And yes, the Ukes are likely to be working. Which means there will be 200K Brits out of work or on welfare. CC, JSM; 12/25/25, 3:20 PM
narciso said...: Well they had a good month or so of protest and sanchez made thr deal with the commie sumar and the catalans anyways; 12/25/25, 3:20 PM
buwaya said...: There is very little anxiety over immigrants in Spain, due in large part to the immigration policies presided over by the right-wing Spanish "deep state". 50% of immigrants are Spanish speakers rrom Spanish America, 30% are other Europeans, about 17% are those scary Muslims, mostly Moroccans. On this matter Spain absolutely isn't France or the UK, its leaders have been much wiser.
A Ukrainian chorus in any such ceremony (of similar symbolic weight), with the King present, wouldnt raise an eyebrow, it would be seen by most as an act of fealty, or perhaps of gratitude.
Sagrada Familia is in Barcelona, its Catalan, what the Catalans get up to is irrelevant to anyone else, Spain has its own internal issues. I know you were trying to find something of symbolic weight, but this isnt it.; 12/25/25, 3:24 PM
Iman said...: NFL football on Netflix is nearly unwatchable. These commentators/color people they have really suck. Just sayin’…; 12/25/25, 3:26 PM
hawkeyedjb said...: Buwaya said…
“…as well as public infrastructure, which has become near-impossible to construct.”

The only thing going full speed ahead in California is the useless middle-of-the-desert “high speed” train.; 12/25/25, 3:33 PM
buwaya said...: When I was down recovering from a stroke a few months ago my wife ordered a groceries delivery from Carrefour and the blonde chick (with ponytail, Lazlo would have loved her) that brought it to our flat (piso) was obviously a foreigner. Nobody in Spain is complaining about this sort of foreigner.; 12/25/25, 3:36 PM
buwaya said...: My take on Brexit was that most thought it would cure the black and Paki problem. They werent really mad at the Poles.
Of course it did nothing about the blacks and Pakis.; 12/25/25, 3:42 PM
buwaya said...: The Spanish attitude - Vox, the furthest right party, comparable to Le Pen or the AfD, is not against legal immigration, it supports the immigration of Hispano-Americans. It welcomes Ukrainian refugees. It opposes the immigration of Muslims and Africans.; 12/25/25, 3:53 PM
narciso said...: the political class including the Tories, don't give a farthing,
or else you wouldn't have 800,000 just this year, the British people didn't want to be run from Brussels, but they don't care over there,; 12/25/25, 4:27 PM
lonejustice said...: I'm in the middle of the second season of watching Land Man. People who believe that Hollywood is nothing but left-wing propaganda have never watched this great show.; 12/25/25, 4:31 PM
narciso said...: it depends, as they say, he's sensible on the practical need for fossil fuels, he virtue signals on everything native american, see yellowstone and 1883 and 1923, a realist on other things,; 12/25/25, 4:37 PM
Clyde said...: I'm not doing my song countdown today; it will resume tomorrow. However, I will give you a Christmas song you may not have heard before. Merry Christmas!

THE PRIMITIVES - You Trashed My Christmas [Official]
https://youtu.be/IX5N4XBZEA0?si=ZKEvcT2LvmeQhPKB; 12/25/25, 4:37 PM
narciso said...: there are some nice tableaus,; 12/25/25, 4:49 PM
narciso said...: https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/birth-and-redemption-in-winter; 12/25/25, 4:55 PM
narciso said...: in addition, he has an unrealistic attitude about development in the West, certainly John Dutton the protagonist had one,; 12/25/25, 4:56 PM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Beautiful!; 12/25/25, 4:57 PM
chuck said...: Unless you are around Benicia

California craves Golden Goose Eggs.; 12/25/25, 5:00 PM
narciso said...: https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/12/23/an-amateur-detective-may-have-solved-several-of-californias-most-notorious-murders-n3810197 could be; 12/25/25, 5:16 PM
john mosby said...: The BBC nightly news commentators are just gushing over the incredibly important message conveyed by the Uke singers....oy vey....CC, JSM; 12/25/25, 5:24 PM
narciso said...: from last nights discussion

https://faculty.uml.edu/ethan_Spanier/Teaching/documents/Cline_2009_Sea_Peoples_and_Israelites_article.pdf; 12/25/25, 5:29 PM
john mosby said...: BBC reporter Shaimaa Khalil literally jumping up and down with excitement as she reports full-scale Xmas celebrations are back in Bethlehem. Not for any Christian reason, oh no - because it shows the "resilience" of the Palis. Just beautiful. CC, JSM; 12/25/25, 5:32 PM
narciso said...: she didn't call it Beit lam, bbc is just another skin the progs have appropriated as their own,; 12/25/25, 5:34 PM
narciso said...: https://senseofevents.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-dec-25.html more perspectives,; 12/25/25, 5:42 PM
Original Mike said...: "Astronomical solstice: ~December 21–22
Observable turning point: ~December 25"

What accounts for the difference?; 12/25/25, 5:48 PM
john mosby said...: 'Ciso: article looks cool.

I just realized the only reason I know about the Sea People is because of this blog. Various commenters have mentioned them over the years.

Thanks, Althouse Community! This is the true meaning of Xmas....snif!....CC, JSM; 12/25/25, 6:04 PM
Original Mike said...: Using one of my observing apps, the shortest day this year was Dec 20. Sunrise keeps getting later until early January, but that's opposed by sunset which starts getting earlier in early December. I know that this has been a topic here before, but I never paid much attention. I'm guessing now that "Observable turning point" isn't really a thing. I apologize for bringing it up.; 12/25/25, 6:13 PM
narciso said...: well observable by what means is the question, and what measure,; 12/25/25, 6:17 PM
narciso said...: https://www.marshallcountydaily.com/2025/12/21/the-winter-solstice-a-cosmic-turning-point/; 12/25/25, 6:25 PM
narciso said...: so its not actual distance but angle of approach,; 12/25/25, 6:27 PM
narciso said...: https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/twas-the-k-shape-before-xmas-wednesday; 12/25/25, 6:31 PM
Political Junkie said...: High was 80 today here in DFW. Yuck. 80 is great in July, not Christmas Day.; 12/25/25, 6:34 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Is this what VP JD was talking about “not apologising for being white”?

YouTube: Celebrities taking “responsibility”; 12/25/25, 6:36 PM
narciso said...: its a sunny day, make the most of it,; 12/25/25, 6:37 PM
narciso said...: self flagellation gets tiresome after a while,; 12/25/25, 6:39 PM
narciso said...: actors have forgotten that their status is not as exalted as they imagine themselves to be,; 12/25/25, 6:49 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: The reason we are where we are, not only in the USA and the UK/australia/france, etc. is people for years virtue signalled on "liking immigrants". Gosh, I love my migrant doctor or that great little immigrant who comes by and does gardening. I'm Ok with immigrants who are hard working, blah de blah.

So, "migrants" are OK. Except the ruling class loves all of them. The long and the short and the tall. And if you have enough "nice" immigrants over enough years, you're living in their country, not yours.

If we import enough mexican, chinese, africans, etc. it wont matter how "nice" and "hardworking" they are, it'll be their country not ours. Of course, do "Heritage Americans" give a damn about anything except $$$? Maybe they wont care about Brazil North, as long as they got enough dinero in their pockets.; 12/25/25, 7:08 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: TIL the sun is only 20 galactic years young.; 12/25/25, 7:09 PM
RCOCEAN II said...: Anyway, its been a great Christmas. Lots of presents. Lots of good company. Next day - Boxing Day - is a day off. So, we'll continue on being Merry.; 12/25/25, 7:10 PM
Mason G said...: YouTube: Celebrities taking “responsibility”

"I take responsibility for every unfair stereotype"

Like the one that says "whites are inherently racist"?; 12/25/25, 7:34 PM
narciso said...: Since punctuality and neatness is racist 'everything is'

But take dick van dyke as heritage american as one can imagine, yet he fools for idiocy from commissar sanders; 12/25/25, 7:59 PM