Extra daylight on its way: Joy to the world

Anticipation is keen as we get ready for one of the favorite holidays in our blended culture hereabouts: Christmas Day.

I, too, am looking forward to my fast-approaching favorite day -- not holiday -- of the year. And it's not Christmas Day.

My favorite day of the year comes a couple of days after Christmas. Dec. 27, to be exact.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I expect my favorite day is also a special day for a lot of you, and you might not even know it.

What happens that's so special on Dec. 27? Let me tell you.

Dec. 27 is the day our planet, Earth, starts tilting north again in its annual wobbly orbit around our favorite star, the sun. Since last June the planet has been sagging to the south. On Dec. 27 -- after an 11-day pause -- Earth starts adding pieces of daylight to our daily schedule here in the middlish part of our continent.

Here are a few details, which I will keep to a minimum so you don't nod off in the middle of your bowl of Cheerios.

We've been losing daylight since June 25, a minute or so each day. At the peak of our exposure to the sun, we had 14 hours and 44 minutes of daylight from June 16 to 24. One June 25 we only had 14 hours and 43 minutes of sunshine. And it's been downhill since then.

But on Dec. 27 the wobble reverses. From Dec. 16 to Dec. 26, as Earth stops tilting one way and starts leaning the other way, we have a mere nine hours and 36 minutes of daylight each day. On Dec. 27, the daylight will go up one minute to nine hours and 37 minutes.

That's the most important minute of the year, as far as I'm concerned. It's a sure sign that Earth is still fixed in both its orbit ad it wobbling. What goes away -- in this case, daylight -- comes back to us in full measure. This yearly ritual is a sure thing, at least for now and for thousands of years to come, God-willing and the creek don't rise, as folks say in the Ozarks over yonder.

If you are among the many individuals who suffer from SAD -- seasonal affective disorder -- Dec. 27 is your special day, too, because it's the day your moodiness, irritability and depression start to subside.

The happiest time of the year for those who crave longer daylight hours is those nine days in June when the sun keeps shining and shining and shining.

In between the longest and shortest days of daylight come those bugaboos that disrupt the entire cycle. You know what I'm talking about: daylight-saving time.

Once again I will spread the word: switching to DST -- or away from it -- does not add one minute, not one second of daylight to any day in the year. Nor does it take away any sunshine.

What it does is give us a jolt in our daylight-and-darkness rhythm. This is something worth getting riled up about, as far as I'm concerned. And I know a lot of you agree.

So, enjoy that extra minute of daylight next week, and all the added minutes to follow for the next six months.

Merry Christmas, happy New Year and a delightful Dec. 27.

Joe Sullivan is the retired editor of the Southeast Missourian.