It's the longest night of the year.
Obviously. It's not light outside until past 8:30, then dark again before 5:00. The sun's just rising when you leave for work, and long set when you return.
And it's long because it's work, work, work, every dollar earned applied towards bills and debts, the institutions, the people, a tiny bit grafted from the top for cigarettes and liquor, the fuel of these 16 hour work days....
But knowing, somehow, that it's the longest night of the year, that the nights will grow shorter and the the days will lengthen, that the Christmas rush is almost over and the workdays will shorten, that money may someday in the distant future be used freely to ones own ends, it gives you hope...