this is my gift to you and your children - happy holidays and enjoy

[ohmsmom]

More Than Just a Snowman

It could have been a really bad day.

The day started with my family feeling trapped inside our house by the cold and the deep snow outside.


I was fighting with my sister Mary over which movie to watch when my Dad said, “I am not letting the snow get the best of me and anybody who wants to have a little fun around here is more than welcome to join me. I am going outside to build a giant snowman.”


He dressed in his warm grey coat, favorite red hat and his warmest mittens and headed outside.


Nobody followed him. We just stayed inside feeling grumpy with nothing fun to do.


“What are you doing over there?” shouted our friendly neighbor Mr. Greg to my father.
Mr. Greg bounced over to our yard with his big orange shovel and a great big smile on his face, before my father could even finish answering him.

My Father and Mr. Greg laughed and talked while they pushed and shoved the snow into great big piles then rolled it into three giant balls, each one bigger than the last. I had to admit it looked like they were having a lot more fun than us.

After looking outside from the window my Mother made me and Mary put on our snow clothes. First our snow pants, then our boots, next our coats and finally pink matching scarf, mittens and hat for Mary and blue for me.

Let’s get out there before they use up all the snow, my Mother said as she followed us out the front door.

We were not outside for long, before we were playing, laughing and enjoying the snow on the bright sunny day.

“I thought my ladder might come in handy here”, said carpenter Ken as he suddenly appeared in our yard. Carpenter Ken and Mr. Greg rolled the snowballs over to the ladder and one at a time lifted them up carefully to my father. My father placed the huge boulders of snow one on top of the other.

“How tall do you think he is?” my sister asked.

“I’ve got a tape measure” answered carpenter Ken. We measured our snowman all the way around his middle and all the way up to the top of his head. He was eleven feet high and twenty-five feet around. Wow was he huge.

Old Mrs. Rumpkin came over with a bright green scarf for our snowman. “He will need a proper outfit”, she said, as she handed my Mother the scarf.

Then I noticed that shy Samantha was standing at the edge of our yard with her mother. They were carrying a big, black top hat. Samantha doesn’t usually play in the neighborhood because some of the other kids have teased her about being so small.

“What have you got there, Samantha”, my mother called. Samantha and her mother came into the yard with smiles on their faces to match the size of the hat they carried. “It looks like it is time to dress this guy!” mom cheered.

Everybody searched for the treasures that we could use to decorate our snowman. We needed to find something to use for the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the arms and the buttons.

“I know”, said Mary and she ran off to the garage. She came speeding back with some black toys just the right size for eyes and buttons.

Would an orange make a good nose? I wondered out loud. Mom ran into the kitchen grabbed the orange as well as a banana to use for the smiling mouth.

With his hammer and some nails, my Father and carpenter Ken built arms out of some old pieces of wood.

I climbed up the giant balls of snow and carefully placed each button one by one, making a straight line going up our snowman’s body.

The head of our snowman was way too high to reach, so carpenter Ken steadied the ladder and my Father climbed up to add the black eyes, the orange nose, the banana smile mouth and the bright green scarf.

It took a long time to put the scarf on because Mrs. Rumpkin kept asking to move it a little to the left, a little more to the right until she decided that it was just perfect.

When it was time to put the tall black hat on, Dad found that he could not reach the top, even with the ladder.

We needed a way to get that hat on, but how?

Dad looked around and spotted Samantha standing very quietly all alone.

He walked up to her asked her something. I could see her nodding and looking very excited.

Dad handed Samantha the hat then picked her up and lifted her up to the snowman’s head.

Everybody clapped as Samantha stretched as high as she could to put the tall black hat on.


He was finally finished, our beautiful and giant snowman. We all stood back and looked at what we had just made.


It made me feel happy when I looked at him.


The next day, the kids on my bus were really excited to see our snowman.
They talked about him all the way to school. “I helped to put his hat on”, Samantha boasted in the loudest voice she has ever had.


I saw at least seven families stop their cars in front of our house to look at Mr. Snowman.
Some of the cars had their windows down, so the people inside could get a better look. I could hear some of them saying wow can you believe that snowman!

The woman who walks her big brown dog every day smiled as she strolled by this time.
I think her dog was smiling too. She waived and applauded by saying it is the greatest snowman she has ever seen.

The fun that we had making our snowman seemed to catch on.


Many days have passed since that fun filled winter day.
The weather started to get warmer and it was almost springtime.


The snowman was melting and didn’t look the same anymore.


Carpenter Ken stopped by and changed what was left of the snowman to look exactly like a rabbit.


That same day we received a strange letter in the mail.


Nobody in my family recognized the return address on the envelope.


We opened it excitedly and Mom read it out loud. She said that the words inside melted her heart.


The letter said, “the energy displayed by Mr. Snowman is filled with joy and wonder. You and your family keep it up, as this the type of stuff our world needs more of. Thank you for sharing the happiness and creativity.”


Dad said it was more than a snowman we built that day.


Mom agreed that is was.


The day we built our giant snowman could have been a really bad day, but it turned out to be the best day of winter after all.


Shirley