It is hard to crawl out of your warm sleeping bag in the middle of the night, however, this is just what we did on December 21st. With the lure of a full lunar eclipse  on the winter solstice  the invitation was just to great. I was the first one out of bed. I took the time to get the camera gear ready as well as the spotting scope. With a little motivation I was then able to get LJ and Nancy out of their bags into the cold night air.

At around 12:30 we started to see the shadow of the earth start to move over the reflective surface of the moon. Over the next hour or so we marveled as the moon slowly became a red orb.

The thrill for LJ was great. She had never witnessed an eclipse, and for her first one to be on such a special day was a real treat.

We were all thrilled as the shadow finally covered the moon and the stars erupted into full light with the red orb of the moon hanging in their midst.Being on the banks of the Rio Grande, miles from any lights made the view just that much better.

After enjoying the darkness of the full eclipse it was time to climb back into our now cold sleeping bags a settle back into sleep.