The first day of January finally arrives.  Today we bust the four hour barrier.  Fairbanks has a potential of four hours and one minute of daylight. 

        However, falling snow obscures the sun. 

        The long cold of winter has settled into every fiber of our life.  Darkness, snow and cold holds hostage even our imaginations.  "Is there anywhere that isn't cold?" my son asked me one day.

        Thousands of tiny lights twinkle to the south as the lavendar arctic sky fades into blackness.  I see Fairbanks.

        As the night sky clears, our endurance is rewarded with a solar light show, the Aurora Borealis.