It's that time of year (unless you live in warm places like my siblings in Vegas, or if you're lucky enough to live somewhere tropical like Hawaii--SIGH!)
But if you're somewhere that actually gets a real winter, and it looks like this outside, don't cry. It can be fun (unless you have to drive in it). You can use your creative juices to bring Hawaii to you. Let me explain.
But first some rules! What's wrong with the above picture?
Oh, could it be that my daughter is out in below freezing weather with short sleeves and no hat?
That's better. Thanks, obedient daughter.
Now snow comes in all sorts of textures and smooshiness factors. Eskimos, I've been told, have a whole bunch of words to describe different types of snow. Good for them. For this post though, rather than confuse you with Eskimo terminology, I'm going to just use two adjectives to differentiate--GOOD and BAD.
Good snow is when you take a handful and pack it together and it stays put. You can make 100s of snowballs and throw them at people and get all your winter angst out of your system (well, at least until the next time you have to drive and your rear wheel drive tires are spinning out at the green light and that stupid 4 wheel drive behind you honks).
Bad snow is when you take a handful and pack it together...and it doesn't stay put. No matter how hard you press it or mold it or yell at it, it keeps falling apart into white worthless shapeless powder. Urgh! Me hate bad snow!
Now when you get good snow--which we don't often here in Boise, Idaho--you can mold it into tropical shapes to pretend you are on a beach chair in Hawaii.
Doesn't her tan look lovely? I would get after her for her shoe attire and lack of gloves, only I can't. She thinks she's in Hawaii, and I don't want to burst her bubble.
Oh, here's Ginger getting in on the action. If you have lonely pets, winter is a great time to create friends for them (nice snowy friends who don't poop all over your yard and leave hair all over your house. I love those kind of friends, and would have them stay forever, except they melt--like Frosty the Snowman. But don't worry, they'll be back again someday!)
One magical winter, we got dumped on with some GOOD, GOOD snow. My kids went wild and couldn't just make a regular snowman. Oh no! This was GOOD, GOOD snow. They were determined to clear every inch of snow from the front yard to create the biggest snowman in the neighborhood.
Now, I don't know if you knew this, but as you compact good snow, it gets heavy....Really Heavy!!! My poor kids could hardly roll these balls around by the end; but they weren't deterred. Oh no! They used the basic scientific lever method to roll the balls onto each other (snow is scientifically stimulating!)
Dad might have helped them get the head on top (I know mom didn't).
If you aren't lucky enough to get good snow, and receive the barely endured bad snow, don't lose hope. This is how to make a snowman out of the bad stuff. It's still pretty cute, I think.
We were lucky and after we made the bad snow snowman, we got some good snow. The kids went out and were like Calvin and Hobbes, making an army of big snowman to annihilate the bad snow snowman. Poor guy. I felt bad for him.
If your kids aren't into playing chaos and destruction with their snowmen, then maybe they want a taste of the real thing. My boy and his friends passed hours outside clearing the driveway and heaping the snow into a huge pile which they then made into a fort and dug tunnels through. Then they played chaos and destruction in real time! (And Mom enjoyed that they did this while she drank her hot chocolate inside the warm house with her wool socks on her feet)
Now my girls....they just want to be in Hawaii. Here's my oldest making a sea turtle to pretend the world is 78 degrees and humid, with a nice trade wind blowing across her tanned swim-suit clad body.
Ginger loves sea turtles.
So do I. I once followed one for a ways as I was snorkeling off Tunnels Beach in Kauai, and they are the most graceful creatures alive. I almost feel like one right now...don't you? Making a sea turtle in the snow is sure to warm you up (or not).
But watching your kids happy faces as they show you their snow creatures--whether they be great or small--will definitely warm your heart. I know it does mine. (Ginger! Did you just eat your friend?)
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