When I stepped out on my front porch this morning, I found my neighbors down the street raking leaves from their front lawn…still. Meanwhile, my Halloween pumpkins have collapsed into flat, icy shells of their former selves, their skin paper-thin and brittle, their flesh icy and crystalline.

It’s hard to tell the difference between fall and winter at this time of year, and if you’re wondering why, perhaps the answer is that the winter solstice is mere days away. We may think of the December holidays as falling in the middle of winter—and they do coincide with the shortest, darkest days—but in fact they come with the start of astrological winter. Continue reading →