Google Doodle celebrates the winter solstice

Today marks the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day of the year and the official first day of winter, and Google's seasonal hedgehog animation is back to celebrate the occasion. Tuesday's Google Doodle is a fresh iteration on the same hedgehog theme the search engine used to mark the beginning of fall three months ago.

If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, when you head over to Google, you'll be greeted by an animation of a snow-dusted hedgehog adorned with pinecones, berries and branches, ambling contently along, a small cloud of mist periodically emanating from its nose. 

For folks in the Southern Hemisphere, where it's the first day of summer, you'll see an animation of a hedgehog with considerably more pep in its step as it hops on its way with a pair of ruby-red shades propped upon its forehead and topped with an array of tropical foliage and citrus.