The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year because so much of the Sun's path through the sky is hidden by the Earth itself.

This image shows the Sun's path on the Winter Solstice as seen from a latitude of 43 degrees North.

The Sun rises just before eight o'clock in the morning, slightly east of the southeast compass point.

At mid-day it reaches its highest point south, a bit higher than 20 degrees, or less than the width of your splayed hand held at arm's length.

It sets at a quarter to five in the afternoon, just west of the southwest compass point.

Compare this to the Summer Solstice, when the Sun rises and sets almost as far north as the northeast and southeast points, respectively, and its highest mid-day altitude will be 66 degrees up!