Tuesday is the first day of December, a month that marks the beginning of winter and also the time for treats and festivities such as Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's Eve.

December got its name from the word "decem," which means ten. In the Northern Hemisphere, the season generally begins on Dec. 21 or 22 with winter solstice, the day of the year with the shortest period of daylight.

Here are 10 quotes about December, collected from Goodreads and the Quote Garden. These sayings about the holiday month will get you in the festive spirit.

1. "I heard a bird sing / In the dark of December / A magical thing / And sweet to remember: 'We are nearer to spring / Than we were in September.'" — Oliver Herford

2. "December's wintery breath is already clouding the pond, frosting the pane, obscuring summer's memory..." ― John Geddes

3. "If we had no winter the spring would not be so pleasant." ― Anne Bradstreet

4. "December, being the last month of the year, cannot help but make us think of what is to come." —Fennel Hudson

5. "December's wintery breath is already clouding the pond, frosting the pane, obscuring summer's memory..." ― John Geddes

6. "In December ring / Every day the chimes; / Loud the gleemen sing / In the streets their merry rhymes. / Let us by the fire / Ever higher / Sing them till the night expire." — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

7. "Who is not a love seeker when December comes? Even children pray to Santa Claus." — Rod McKuen

8. "The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing others' loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the holidays." ― W. C. Jones

9. "Chill December brings the sleet / Blazing fire / and Christmas treat." — Sara Coleridge

10. "God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December." — James M. Barrie

Christmas Decoration
Tis the season to deck the halls Pixabay
RELATED STORIES
Hanukkah