The other nice thing is that the days will start getting longer in a little over 2 weeks.
That is true, however the evenings start to get lighter right around now as this is the time of the earliest sunset for much of the US. We're a little to the north just south of the 49th parallel, so our earliest sunset isn't until the 11th. Nice to think that the evenings will start getting lighter!
There is a downside to this though as the mornings here will continue to get darker until early January, but even later the farther south you go.
Here is a link to Earth & Sky that explains why the earliest sunset and latest sunrise do not happen at the solstice.