It was a mild day for New
Year's Eve. As seven-year old Tammy gazed
out the living room window, she saw wet snow hanging heavily on the evergreen
tree branches, creating an aura of beauty unlike any that the child in the
small, rural community had ever seen before. Huge icicles dripped from the
eaves trough, forming puddles of water. Somehow, there seemed to be an element
of mystery with respect to them. She knew that overnight, they would likely
turn into treacherous black ice. Tammy was determined to take
advantage of the warm weather and build a snowman to welcome her grandfather,
who was coming in the morning to celebrate New Year's Day with her and her
mother.
"I want to build a
snowman for Grandpa," she insisted at lunchtime, but her mother was far
too busy with New Year's Eve preparations to pay attention to her. "Go outside and play, dear."
"Then I will build it by
myself."
Tammy knew how to build a
snowman, but how to make it extra special for her grandfather presented another
conundrum.
"I'll worry about that
later," she decided, as she rolled out three, huge snowballs to place on
top of each other.
"I can barely lift this
one!" she exclaimed, struggling to put the first one in place and then the second one. Just as she was trying to pick up the
one for the top, the postman came by and lifted it for her. She was ecstatic. "It was really heavy!"
"Happy New Year!" he
hollered to her, as he continued
on his route. She waved back.
Tammy's mother looked outside,
at that very moment and smiled. "Thank
you!" she whispered.
Small, tree branches would
suffice for the snowman's arms, along with stones for his eyes and mouth, and a
huge icicle for his nose. The snowman now had a mysterious, wry smile, but
Tammy liked it. She pulled off her bright red hat, scarf and mitts and put them
on the snowman, as well.
"Now this is really you,
Grandpa" said Tammy with a grin, several hours later, as she put the
finishing touches on her snowman. "It is absolutely perfect!"
"Where is Grandpa's old
banjo?" Tammy's mother wondered that evening when she discovered it was
missing. "Oh no! Were we robbed!"
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