9:30 am

It's just before Christmas on the shortest day of the year. I still have some shopping to do so I go to WalMart in the predawn darkness.

9:50 am

It's getting light by the time I finish at WalMart.

10:00 am

I'm just outside the Alaska Mac Store and the sun is just coming up in the southeast.

11:30 am

Loews and Home Depot are both out of trees! I head south on the Minnesota Bypass to a tree lot and get the second to the last tree.

Noon

Home again, I'm standing in the driveway to take a noon picture. I hear a car come to a hollow squeaky stop on the packed snow. The window goes down. Someone needs directions, I think. "Excuse me, ma'am," says the polite driver. "I see you're taking pictures there. Did you see the moose behind you?"

Noon

I turn around, and sure enough there is a moose coming down the street. Must be a Christmoose.

Noon

I back the car out into the street so I can take pictures from the car.

Noon

Even though other cars have driven past him, the moose doesn't want to walk right past my parked car. So he detours into my neighbor's yard.

Noon

He gives me a suspicious look.

Noon

He walks right past the car!

Noon

The Christmoose walks away down the street.

4:00 pm

Snow covers flower boxes and picnic tables on the back deck as the sun sinks below the horizon to the southwest. The sun follows such a shallow path that the twilight lingers for a long time. The shortest day has about 6 hours of sunlight.