It’s been raining for the last 18 days in Portland, home of Nutcase helmets. And it’s a big, wet, fat-drop kind of rain, not the torrential mist we’re generally used to in our Pacific Northwest home.

But in spite of general sogginess, we’re still thankful for a lot of things as the holidays approach, including the fact that today is the Winter Solstice.

For those of us living in the Northern hemisphere, December solstice marks the day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight. North of the Arctic circle towards the North Pole there is no direct sunlight at all during this part of the year. In places like Kiruna, Sweden, the sun doesn’t reach above the horizon; instead, the city experiences polar night, until around the 4th of January.

For those living in the Southern hemisphere, it is the longest day of the year, and people that live south of the Antarctic Circle see the midnight sun and have 24 hours of daylight this time of the year.

Photo flickr Nasa Goddard via CC by 2.0

And then, it all moves in the opposite direction! Northern hemisphere dwellers start to get a few minutes more daylight each day.

The word solstice comes from the Latin and is associated with holidays and celebrations. Here are more fun facts about this solstice.

One of the most interesting facts is that the winter solstice is not actually a day, it’s a specific moment – the moment when the sun is exactly overhead the Tropic of Capricorn. This year, for the Nutcases in Portland, the solstice happens at 8:49 p.m. tonight.

One additional fact about this year’s solstice?

It happens to coincide with the last possible day to order a Nutcase gift helmet and have it arrive in time for Christmas. If you want to do so, hop on over to our store and get your order in now.

And now we’ll take this moment to wish all of our big beautiful Nutcase family and Nutcase friends a very, very happy holiday season. Love the earth, love each other, and love your brain!