Is the earth closer to the sun during our hot summers?

While I was writing my Groundhog Day book, I had a discussion with my editor about whether or not  the northern hemisphere where we live was furthest from the sun during wintertime.  Winters are cold, so it seemed logical.

So I contacted a NASA flight controller friend of mine, whose books for children are more scientific than mine about this.  She did a little research and discovered that the northern hemisphere is actually the furthest from the sun during earth's elliptical orbit during our summers. It's the poor southern hemisphere that is closer to the sun during their summertime.  (our winters)