http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/the_universe/uts/winter.html
This Web site offers about as clear an explanation of the winter solstice as I’ve found. It includes colorful graphics to illustrate the concepts I wrestle with whenever I try to think about the Earth as a planet rotating on a a tilted axis and traveling in an elliptical orbit around the sun.
http://www.clarkfoundation.org/astro-utah/vondel/suncalendar.html
This link takes you to a popular interest newspaper column written by an astronomer who happens to be the retired director of the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City. This particular column talks about sun watching and creating a horizon calendar. He offers two other columns relevant to the winter solstice. I’ve listed them separately.