Christmas in Latvia – thetolbertfamily.com

With December comes the ever-encroaching darkness here in Latvia. The darkest day is December 21, which is the winter solstice. This year on Dec. 21, the sun rose at 9:00AM and set around 3:40PM. To give a comparison, South Carolina averages around 170 sunshine hours in December while Rīga, Latvia averages around 21 sunshine hours. (measured using a sunshine recorder, interesting, right?)

While we are doing well in our first Latvian winter and taking plenty of Vitamin D, one of the benefits of living in a dark, winter country is the breathtaking Christmas lights that you are able to enjoy! Here are some of the lights we were able to see this December:

We went with some friends to a park in Jūrmala with some lights and kids activites.

The girls walking through a park near Old Riga and the Freedom Monument.

A huge Advent wreath in a traffic circle.

The Christmas Tree in the center of our town, Ādaži.

Patty and I wanted to get our picture taken, too! Anna Kate was a good photographer.

A picture near Old Riga at 4:30 in the afternoon 🙂

We tried to stay busy and outside during the Christmas season. We did a lot of shopping, some ice skating, Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, and some other fun things!