I'm glad you got to see some Geminids, @jo. I didn't see any, mainly due to temperatures around -25C the night of maximum, followed by a few days and nights of snow and light freezing rain.

The last half of this month has also lived up to this month's cloudy reputation, with plenty of snow for Christmas followed by mild temperatures that allowed the snow to sublimate right into thick fog that's persisted over much of the past 10 days or so.

There was a brief pause in the clouds Saturday, and I enjoyed the view of the planets and Orion that evening. Saturn and Venus are a lot closer now than when I saw them last, and will be closest (2 degrees apart) on January 17. Another highlight next month is Mars at opposition January 16 (just 3 days after the Moon covers it for much of North America).

Fun trivia note: the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, is roughly opposite the sun this time of year. That means that as we ring in the New Year at midnight tomorrow (or later today, depending on your time zone), it is at its highest in the southern sky (or the northern sky for those Down Under).