The Winter Solstice is finally here. Lovers of winter could celebrate the beginning of their favorite season.

The Winter Solstice is on Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 4:48 p.m. EST. Also called the hibernal solstice or the December Solstice, this is the time of the year when the Sun travels through the shortest path in the sky, giving us the least amount of daylight.

Not only does the Winter Solstice give the Northern Hemisphere its "shortest day" and longest night of the year, but it also marks the official first day of the astronomical winter.

From here, however, the days will once again grow longer as we inch our way toward the Summer Solstice in June. But for now, people can enjoy their favorite things about the season, whether it's the stillness that the season seems to bring or the opportunity to spread a little warmth.

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Celebrate the Winter Solstice with these inspiring quotes about the cold season. (Courtesy: Good Reads, Brainy Quote and Inc.)

  • "I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.'" -Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland/Through The Looking-Glass
  • "I pray this winter be gentle and kind—a season of rest from the wheel of the mind." -John Geddes
  • "Thank goodness for the first snow, it was a reminder—no matter how old you became and how much you'd seen, things could still be new if you were willing to believe they still mattered." -Candace Bushnell
  • "What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness." -John Steinbeck
  • "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." -Anne Bradstreet
  • "Winter is a season of recovery and preparation." -Paul Theroux
  • "I want to age the way that life makes you age, because there's beauty in autumn and winter and I think people forget that." -Helen Baxendale
  • "He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter." -John Burroughs
  • "That's what winter is: an exercise in remembering how to still yourself then how to come pliantly back to life again." -Ali Smith
winter, snow, snow man,
Representation. Couleur/Pixabay