The Christmas Moon 2015

There will be a full moon this Christmas for the first time since 1977. It will rise at 4:04 PM on Christmas Eve, reach the crest of its full phase (residing exactly 180 degrees from the sun in ecliptic longitude) at 3:11 AM on Christmas morning, and set at 7:35 AM. (All times Pacific Standard Time.)

That means Santa will be making his run this year in the light of the full moon.

There won't be another full moon on Christmas until 2034, so I hope you will be able to make the full moon a part of your Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning.

The December full moon is called the Cold Moon, for obvious reasons, or the Longest Night Moon, for its proximity to the Winter Solstice. But this year we can without hesitation call it what it is: the Christmas Moon.

"A Christmas Carol" by Christina Rossetti

Camels, Heifer Ranch, Arkansas. Photo by Rebecca Stover Roetzel

In the bleak mid-winter
   Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
   Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
   Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter 
   Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
   Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
   When He comes to reign:
In the bleak midwinter
   A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty
   Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
   Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
   And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
   Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
   Which adore.

Angels and archangels
   May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
   Thronged the air;
But only His mother
   In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
   With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
   Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
   I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man
   I would do my part,—
Yet what I can I give Him,
   Give my heart.

The Christmas Moon

It's the last--and the smallest--of the full moons of 2013. It's called the Cold Moon, or the Long Night Moon, appearing so close to the Winter Solstice. But I will call it the Christmas Moon.

That doesn't mean this picture is accurate for this year. No, Santa will fly his sleigh under a full moon on Christmas Eve only about every nineteen years. This year he'll be out in the light of a waning gibbous moon. But we can save this picture and use it in 2015--there will be a full moon on December 25 that year.

But this one fits. One could almost imagine it's the night of the full moon in December, 2013, and the world is calm and peaceful and bright, and excitedly anticipating the celebration of the birth of Light.