Their First Snowman

“Make a snowman, Seth.”

“A snowman, Poppa-Mike?” He looked at me. “We don’t know how to make a snowman.”

“How do we make a snowman, Poppa-Mike?” Josh chimed in.

“Mmph?” Benny said from behind the two layers of scarf covering his mouth.

“When I come out, I’ll show you.” I said.

**************

I opened the door and stepped into our backyard—a private winter wonderland. The boys struggled through the deep snow in the center of the yard. “Ok, boys,” I said. “Grab a ball of snow and roll it forward.” I demonstrated by rolling my own snowball through the snow. “See how it gets bigger.” They began to roll their own. I put the bottom of the snowman in place and started on the second ball. I lifted it into place. A snowball struck the back of my neck. Ice crystals melted and trickled down my back. I turned. Josh and Seth stared at me with silly grins on their faces. They’d obviously grown bored with their own snowman. To their right, Benny lay face down in the snow, struggling to get up. I got him on his feet, cleaned snow from his face, and turned to the older two. “Alright, you …” Before I could finish, a snowball hit me in the chin and melted down the inside of my shirt. “That’s it! You’re going to get it now!” I grabbed a handful of snow and returned fire on them. The fight was on. A snowball hit me in the head.

“I got you, Poppa-Mike.” Josh giggled. I grabbed them up and rolled them in the snow. “Take that!” I laughed.

When the battle was over, we put the final touches on their first snowman. I added the head, as the boys collected sticks for arms and pinecones for the eyes, mouth, and buttons. I found an old cap and put it on the head. From the deck, Ginny threw us a carrot for the nose. In the garage, I found an old broom and scarf to complete our creation.