My Little Snowman

I love snowmen!  Always have, always will.  I especially love making snowmen.  Living in Texas the past seven years, it has become more difficult to build the large snowmen like we used to do in my old childhood neighborhood.  No, I am not twelve years old anymore but as long as I am able, I still want to continue to make snowmen.


This morning I decided to make a small snowman, he measures about 11 inches without his forlorn top hat.  I have to tell you, the 11 foot tall snowmen (and women, too!) are much easier to make.  I brought in the snow from outside in a plastic container.  I made snowballs for the body on the kitchen counter and then put them in the freezer.


Pleased with their shape and size, I then decided on materials for the head and body.  I got out some mulling spices and picked out two cloves for the eyebrows.  For the eyes I chose some round dried balls from the mulling spices, I am not sure what they are, perhaps some kind of peppercorn?  A bit of dried orange peel made a cute little nose and another dried piece gave him that crooked little smile.

The old crumpled looking top hat I sketched out on a piece of construction paper.  I  cut it out and made a few touches with a Magic Maker and a white pencil for some details.  I taped a toothpick on the back to poke it on top of his head. 


Found a little tie for his neck and fresh blue berries were used for his buttons.  For his arms I cut some dead stems from an old hanging basket.  This snowman has some boots.  I dyed some snow using black food coloring (what a mess!) and formed some boots.  He just had to have some rosy cheeks so I diluted a few drops of red food coloring and brushed some color on his face.


So far, so good.  I kept the snowballs for the body and the black "boots" in the freezer.  Now it was time to put on the eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth.  There was a problem, the snow had formed into frozen balls in the freezer and the parts would not stick.  I had to make a fresh snowball for the face, the eyes kept falling out.  I blurted out to Clint,  "what can I use to keep his eyes in" and Clint had the perfect answer:  glue :-D


Finally got him together for his photo shoot using toothpicks, a wooden skewer and Elmer's Glue!

We look at a snowman and know not only his days are numbers, but even his hours.  Maybe that is what makes them so special, their lives are so fleeting and we just have to enjoy the time we have with them.  This thought came to me as I was making this snowman, I was reminded of our own lives and one of my favorite verses from James: 


Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.  What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.   James 4:14   NRSV