Snowman, by Sheila Merchand

On a cold winter day in Michigan, in mid-December, the first official snowfall fell. Now, it was the kind of snow that made for the perfect snowman, snowball fights, and forts. It was the kind that every kid wishes for on a snow day, the snowfall that you wish for on Christmas Day, that makes you bundle up before going to play in it, and that lets you just know how beautiful winter can be.

On this day in December, two little sisters, the older eight years old with blond hair and the younger was the six-year-old with red hair, ventured out into this cold winter wonderland on a mission to build the best and biggest snowman they could. After getting all bundled up in their winter clothes, the two headed out into their backyard. The older carved a path in the snow for her younger sister, who decided to leap through the snow beside the older. Even being bundled in warm clothes, the cold nipped at their noses in playful manner.

The two sisters knew that they wanted to build a snowman, because before even the first snowfall, the two were talking about it non-stop. On the older sister’s orders, they gathered the sticks for the arms and placed them with the coal, a carrot, and buttons that they brought out with them for the eyes and such. The two girls then started to pack the snow into balls to roll up. The blond girl started making the bottom, a very time-consuming task, while the red-haired girl worked on the one the middle. The older sister rolled such a big snowball that, in order to push it into the middle of the yard, the younger had to help push it. This feat ended in laughter from the older sister, because the young one fell down from not getting the traction from the snow that she needed, and ended up covered in snow. The younger even managed to get snow inside of her boots but didn’t care because the two needed to finish the snowman, although she was now a little colder than before. Luckily, the younger one had finished the middle body section and, with the older sister’s help, was able to place it on the bottom and pack snow around it to keep it in place. The two started on the head, which was not round like the rest of the snowman but became more oval. The head was then placed on the body and the arms were attached. The eyes, nose, and mouth was put on, as well as the buttons on the body.

The two girls ran and got their mom so they could show off their work. Their mom praised them for a job well done, even noting the “oval-ness” of the head. She told them to come back inside to warm up, because the rosiness of their checks was a giveaway to how cold they were. Hot chocolate and fresh chocolate chip cookies were waiting for them.