burned beseeching fires all night long

Well, the Solstice came and went on Monday, but the days are still short, and this poem has always helped (especially read aloud at the Revels, the last line by several thousand happy people in unison):

The Shortest Day
By Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!

This has been kind of a whirlwind year for me, and next year promises to be even moreso. So the "dearly lov[ing] their friends" part, I feel, is especially important. And that includes all you lovely Internet people. *big hug*

We ship up to Boston and the several homesteads in an hour or so. So have a happy and prosperous Yule, everybody.