--- title: Google Doodle Celebrates Winter and Summer Solstice 2017 description: A Google Doodle honors the winter solstice on Dec. 21, 2017. The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year and the start of winter. canonical: https://time.com/5076017/google-doodle-winter-summer-solstice-2017/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-21T17:43:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:49.239Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates the Winter Solstice With a Cute Bundled-Up Mouse og:description: It's the shortest day of the year og:url: https://time.com/5076017/google-doodle-winter-summer-solstice-2017/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab09ee6dc9d82e8c/6988f62fab6d7758516b11ed/google-doodle.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: google-doodle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates the Winter Solstice With a Cute Bundled-Up Mouse twitter:description: It's the shortest day of the year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab09ee6dc9d82e8c/6988f62fab6d7758516b11ed/google-doodle.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates the Winter Solstice With a Cute Bundled-Up Mouse > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 21, 2017 5:43 PM UTC  Image via Olivia Huynh/Google Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 21, 2017 5:43 PM UTC Google is celebrating the shortest ([and possibly worst](http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/winter-solstice-astrology)) day of the year with a festive new Google Doodle. [The animation](http://travelandleisure.com/travel-news/winter-solstice-google-doodle), which was created by Olivia Huynh and depicts a mouse hunkering down for the coldest months of the year, honors [the winter solstice](http://time.com/5060889/winter-solstice-rituals/), otherwise known as the first official day of winter, [according to an announcement from Google](https://www.google.com/doodles/winter-solstice-2017-northern-hemisphere). On the day of the winter solstice, the North Pole is as far from the sun as it will be all year, [resulting in just nine or 10 hours of daylight in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere.](http://time.com/5075624/shortest-day-year-winter-solstice-sunset-time/) While we colloquially refer to the entire day of Dec. 21 as the winter solstice, Google notes the term technically refers to the moment when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Capricorn. This year, that’s precisely 16:28 UTC, or 11:28 a.m. (E.T.). The Southern Hemisphere, meanwhile, is celebrating the summer solstice, or the longest day of the year, on Dec. 21\. True to form, a [second Google Doodle](https://www.google.com/doodles/summer-solstice-2017-southern-hemisphere), visible to Southern Hemisphere users, shows a mouse getting ready to enjoy sunshine, warm weather and the start of summer. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5076017/google-doodle-winter-summer-solstice-2017/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5076017/google-doodle-winter-summer-solstice-2017/"},"headline":"Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates the Winter Solstice With a Cute Bundled-Up Mouse","datePublished":"2017-12-21T17:43:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:49.239Z","description":"It's the shortest day of the year","url":"https://time.com/5076017/google-doodle-winter-summer-solstice-2017/","keywords":["Holidays","Google","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab09ee6dc9d82e8c/6988f62fab6d7758516b11ed/google-doodle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab09ee6dc9d82e8c/6988f62fab6d7758516b11ed/google-doodle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"google-doodle","caption":"google-doodle","creditText":"Image via Olivia Huynh/Google Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/holidays/","name":"Holidays"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5076017/google-doodle-winter-summer-solstice-2017/","name":"Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates the Winter Solstice With a Cute Bundled-Up Mouse"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Google Makes its Doodles","description":"Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/upF0qp1E/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-07T16:09:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5076017/google-doodle-winter-summer-solstice-2017/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5076017/google-doodle-winter-summer-solstice-2017/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```