Mid-winter or the first day of Winter?

Being a bit confused about the exact timing of the winter solstice I looked up Wiki and discovered that it is when the "axial tilt of a planet's polar hemisphere is furtherest away from the star that it orbits" Hmmmm not a lot of help, but then it stated that this varied from year to year and this year it happened today at 05:30. I also learned that it is called "Midwinter" or "The Longest Night"or "The First Day of Winter" Personally I much prefer the sound of "Midwinter" to "The First Day of Winter"!

Anyway my blip today is taken outside at 4:00pm which in itself is a major feat and I think the dullness, greyness and bleakness of midwinter are nicely summed up by the poor sheep who are plodding about in the muddy fields, with only raw turnips and some hay to eat.

Not only is the solstice something to celebrate it is also the start of the Christmas holidays. My youngest son arrives tomorrow to be with the rest of us to celebrate - roll on long lies, too much food and a little gentle exercise before the daylight goes!