Well, as the moon
reflects the sun's light, then of course a brighter sun would = brighter moon.
I too think the sun is brighter than it was, but that's something I've noticed over the last years, rather than something recent. I thought it was because I'm a little sensitive to bright lights anyway (boy do I hate looking into headlights on full-beam!).
As for sun's position, I'm no astronomer neither, but isn't the sun supposed to track a different rise and set on the horizon between solsitices? So It should move.
If it's doing a loop-de-loop in the sky on course, well, that's another matter.
What I've never understood is that if the sun always rises in the east, if it rises in a different position every day, then what is happening to east?? (I think it has something to do with the difference between grid north/magnetic north and true north. Maybe someone knows the answer to this, please?)
Personally, I'm interested in the Zeitgeist reference to the stars of orion's belt linking up with Sirius low in the sky to point to the sunrise on the 25th Dec. I've been looking for sirius, and it ain't been there, then it was , and then it wasn't.
This doesn't make sense to me, I thought all stars were fixed in position and revolved around the North Star (northern hem.). The only explanation I can think of is that orion has to be high enough in the sky to enable sirius to be seen (hence it's appearance/disappearance).
As for phases of the moon, bear in mind it takes two weeks to go from full to nothing, not four, so it goes from new (sliver) to half moon in just a week. Depending on where you are in the cycle (it's sinusoidal like everything else) you could get a fair increase/decrease in size in just two days.