The final full moon of the year rises tonight to cap a year of amazing lunar sky shows. While the bright moon will easily
outshine other celestial objects, there is more than meets the eye to Earth’s nearest neighbor.
The December full moon is also called the “long-night’s moon” since it is the closest full moon to the northern winter solstice (when the nights are longest). And indeed tonight’s full moon will be visible for the longest amount of time.
From New York for instance, moonrise on Thursday (Dec. 27) occurred at 4:17 p.m. EST and the moon sets at 7:12 a.m. this morning. So the full moon will indeed be in the sky for a long time: 14 hours and 55 minutes.
http://www.space.com/16841-full-moon-why-does-it-happen-how-does-it-affect-us-video.html