All my life, even as a kid in cloudy northwest Indiana, I have been uplifted by a brightening of daylight starting kind of magically after New Year’s day.

Today, Jan 6, we are only 16 days past the Winter Solstice, and a whopping 74 days from the official first day of spring, March 19 (9:49 a.m. where I live.) Yet, the sun is already rising higher in the sky (about one extra degree above the southern horizon for every four or five days.)

Emily Dickinson commented on this quality of light in “A Light Exists in Spring:” 
“A Light exists in Spring / Not present on the Year / At any other period/ …” 
She was writing about March, but, for me,  this magical light starts now, in January, even if that light falls on thick ice and snow.

And, to top it off, each day in January, the sun sets a minute later than the previous day. (At least at mid latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.) Sunrises are still dawdling along, stuck at their latest time since Dec. 28.  But the sun will rise one minute earlier this Saturday, Jan. 11.

A good place to check out sunrise sunset times and more tailored for  where you live: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa