Stephanie Orsini.com

Since I’m a snowman, it’s probably not too weird that I first woke up naked. It was a shock to find myself unfinished, without any clothes or even a nose of my own. At first, I felt embarrassed. Thankfully, no one else noticed, except for one little boy who saw me. My Friend smoothed out my shape and then he pulled off a long red scarf he was wearing and wrapped it around my neck. Then, seeing that something was missing, he mumbled, “You need a nose.” Then, he left for a while. As he returned with something in his hand, I realized that it was a carrot. My face froze so hard that the boy had to work hard to get my carrot nose in place. After he finished the job, it felt so good to be dressed and presentable! I was proud of my nice, orange carrot nose. I loved my red, long scarf. All I wanted now was a hat. I wouldn’t complain, though. I enjoyed having the friendship and the help of this great kid. 

I figured even without a hat, I looked pretty good, until a bunch of swirling wind and twigs made small dents on my head. Thankfully, my Friend wasn’t done being kind to me. The next day, my Friend came by and smoothed the snow around my face. Suddenly, he looked up at my head and realized what was missing. He said, “Wait here, Josh. I’ll be back after a while.” That’s how I got my name. It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?

Another new friend…

I rested all night in the quiet of the empty park until the next day. The next afternoon, my Friend came right up to me with another beautiful child, a girl that he called Mary. Together, they put a hat on my head and began smiling and laughing about how nice I looked. “Isn’t Josh a spectacular snowman?” my Friend said. It made me happy to think that they liked me. In fact, I was happier than I had ever been.

After a while, they ran off, and when they returned, they each had mugs of hot chocolate. I didn’t want any of it, of course; I could melt if I drank it. But they hung out with me as they finished drinking, talking about their plans for the week, sharing funny stories, and were such good fun to listen to that their laughter made me feel cozy inside. 

Every day, they came back and spent time playing at the park, and then they came close to me and talked about their day. It was so nice that my straight mouth slowly became a curved smile. Okay, the truth was that Mary and my friend changed the shape of my smile, but I like to think that their cheerfulness caused the change. 

Not quite the end…

A few weeks later, something began happening to me. The rays of the bright, yellow sun began to feel hotter than before. Winter was almost over, they said. At first, I just became shiny and smooth. But then, slowly, my snowy body began to change shape. I don’t think I looked very nice, because the children looked sad and tried to console me. I was okay with it, though. A snowman does not like warm weather, so we allow ourselves to melt away and wait for the snow to return. Only then can we be reborn. When the heat finally melted me completely, it was like I fell asleep for a while.

Then, all at once, when the cold winter snow fell again, my friends reformed my body and dressed me up in a different red scarf, and they brought their hot chocolate and their smiles, too. Every year, I saw them get bigger and bigger, and every winter, I got to enjoy the fun of their conversations and their laughter as they played at the park after school. During holidays, they brought cousins and neighbors to meet me, and they would speak very low and seriously as they said, “Josh, I have a new friend for you today.” Meeting new friends was the best fun of all! 

New names for Mary and my Friend

One winter, I waited for a long while to be reborn, but no one came. Years passed, and I still waited until one day, my Friend came back with Mary, and now with some small children. I finally learned his name, and it was “Daddy.” Mary’s name changed, though, and it was “Mommy” now. Every year, Daddy and Mommy came back to build me again with more children, and together, they drank their hot chocolate and spent time with me.

The years passed, and after a while, I had to wait a long time again. This time when my friend came back, he had a new name, “Grandpa.” He brought new children, and as they ran and played, I realized that Mary’s name had changed again, this time to “Grandma.” The new children grew, and other children came, and Grandpa’s name became “Great Grandpa” sometimes, but only to some of the younger children. I never figured out why. 

Today, they wrap me up in my red scarf, with a pretty carrot nose, and my Friend walks over with a big smile and two new hats– one for him and one for me. There is nothing better than being with my Friend. I see that the children who call him Grandpa and Great Grandpa keep building other types of snowmen all around me this time. That’s probably because there are a lot of new kids this year. My friend and Mary move slowly as they dress me today, and they take a lot of breaks to rest. Somehow, I get a feeling that this will be the last time they come to the park. 

An end and new beginnings

As he pulls out his hot chocolate and pours some for Mary, my Friend confirms my suspicion when he tells me that he’ll be gone someday soon. For a moment, I’m sad, but as I think about it, I decided that it will be okay. I am grateful for Grandpa and Grandma Mary, who helped me to have such a great time as year after year the snow returned. If he’s okay with going away, I can be okay with it, too.

Besides, I know that new children keep coming to take Grandpa’s place, and new snowmen are growing up all around me to take my place when I’m gone, too. As I see Grandpa’s children building a snow dog, I smile. A lopsided snow cat forms on my left as two of the children make him a long tail. Suddenly, I hope that one of the children will name their new snowman after me next year when I’m gone. I don’t mind sharing the name. After all, I’d hate for it to go to waste, because Josh is a pretty great name, isn’t it? 

Story Written by Stephanie Orsini from stephanieorsini.com/kids

Want to read another great story by the same author? Check out The Pumpkin Story