Midwinter. 

The sun is barely visible.

Time to light the fire and illuminate the darkness.

The stove is lit.
The kettle sings out a tune of hot tea.
Midwinter…a time to hunker down and keep warm.

“Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful.” 
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, . . . . I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturb’d Retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted evening, know.” 
William Cowper 

“Up rose the wild old winter-king, And shook his beard of snow; “I hear the first young hard-bell ring, ‘Tis time for me to go! Northward o’er the icy rocks, Northward o’er the sea, My daughter comes with sunny locks: This land’s too warm for me!”” 
Charles Godfrey Leland