There’s nothing quite like the magic of building a snow man to get children excited for Christmas. In fact, I remember the first snow man I ever built. I was only 3 or 4 years old but I can still see the coal my dad managed to find somewhere and use for buttons and mouth. We used an old red and blue scarf made out of heavy yarn that was always hanging in the closet above old beat up moon boots and for the eyes and smile we used different bottles of food Coloring.
To us kids, it looked amazing. To my parents, way back then it probably looked hideous with the red running eyes and one arm that was a bare branch and the other arm a pine branch fluffy and green! Our wonderful snowman out of a Stephen King horror novel.
But the point is that my parents sent us out in the snow for hours at a time, made work to roll those giant snow balls and stack them. Then they helped us with the details, allowing us to do most of the work, no matter how hideous that poor, magical snowman turned out.
And best of all, I have a memory I’ll never forget. Feelings of fun and joy doing something that seemed hard to a 3 year old, but being able to finish the job and learn that the outdoors, even in 3 feet of snow, can be fun and rewarding.
Take the time today to make memories with your own kids and grand kids. And if you don’t have a snowman, you can always enjoy time telling stories on a wonderful, handmade kids tree swing! Find a design you like today. And Merry Christmas!