One thing I love about December is that, at the darkest time of the year, the Holidays give us something to celebrate. When we light the Christmas tree or the Hanukkah candles, we are recapitulating thousands of years of human history. The winter solstice tells us that we are over the worst of the darkness, if not the worst of the winter. Ancient peoples made great efforts to get the date of the solstice exactly right, because they were naturally afraid that the sun might never come back. Stonehenge is just one example. It’s the biggest and heaviest calendar in the world and it really only tells you two dates – the summer and winter solstices. The winter solstice, by the way, arrived at five o’clock this morning, so I hope you didn’t miss it. Ever since these special moments in the year were identified they have been celebrated. The Babylonians had Sacaea, their winter festival of renewal. The Romans of classical times had their Saturnalia — a sort of extended Happy Hour. It was an