Chris M.

I saw snow every winter until I turned nine and my family moved from Rhode Island to southeast China. I saw it again last year when I was in the States visiting schools, but I never got close—I saw it speed by through the icy car window as we drove past. But last week it snowed here, in Rhode Island, where we’ve landed again, and I got to really experience it for the first time in years. Yay!

My initial reaction went kind of like: “It’s so sparkly! And it’s cold! But it looks kinda like sand, so you don’t expect it to be that cold, but then it is! This is the best thing ever!”

During the five years I had to live without snow, I convinced myself that it’s not really so great. Snowmen are for little kids, pshh. And I wouldn’t sled even if I had the opportunity. And hot chocolate is just as good when it’s 70 degrees outside. BUT GUESS WHAT! It’s not!

I am now ready to acknowledge that snow is wonderful in every way. It’s pretty, it smells good (some people think it doesn’t have a smell, but I disagree), you can throw it at people, you can make forts out of it, you can sled on it, and you can watch your dog jump around in it. Dogs in snow are one of the cutest things in the whole world.

I have also learned that rain boots do not really make good snow-boots substitutes. And that hot chocolate tastes SO much better when it’s snowing. ♦