PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I remember with some fondness the snow white Christmas's and Winters we had; whilst growing up here in Wales.

In the Winter of 1964, I recall well how, I was all of eight years old and on this day I was utterly fed up of being indoors, so were my younger brother and sister. It was also difficult to contain our excitement that Christmas would be arriving soon and also Father Christmas with presents for us.

Pleading with my mother, that we be allowed to play in the snow in the back garden, "just for a little while" I whined.  After ten minutes of trying to persuade my mother to let us play in the snow; she eventually relented and told us to put on our coats, hats and gloves.

My siblings and I burst through the door and excitedly ran around in circles; my brother opened his mouth and with his head thrown back, caught the falling snowflakes, which he announced "were freezing".

Janet my sister, and I lay in the snow and waved our arms up and down; creating wings alongside where we lay. The overall impression was that of a winged angel. Everywhere was covered in snow, in some parts of the garden the snow was about two to three feet deep.

An idea occurred to me, I said to my sister and brother "lets make a snowman, all by ourselves"; my sister and brother thought this was a wonderfull idea.

The snow was still falling steadily and we were all laughing amongst ourselves when I made a small snowball and began to roll it in the settled and still falling snow.

After a while the snowball had grown and so I asked Janet to help me roll it so it would pick up still more snow and eventually be large enough to make up the body of the snowman.

Whilst my sister and I were preoccupied with this amusing task; my brother shouted, he was going to start another snowball, all by himself, that would eventualy make a snowman's head.

Janet and I rolled the snowball we had made into the center of the yard; Hywel my brother rolled the smaller, but still sizeable other snowball, alongside our larger snowball. "Now to get the smaller snowball to rest on top of the larger one" I said. This would take some care and patience.

It took all three of us to very carefully pick up the head section and place it on top of the body.

We all clapped our hands and congratulated ourselves on making a really good snowman.

Next I scurried around the yard; nearby the coal shed and picked up small, fallen, scattered pieces of coal. Janet , I and my brother too; arranged the coal pieces into a smiling mouth pattern, and two colas for his eyes. The ebony colour of the coals appeared blacker against the stark whiteness of the snowman.

We raided the kitchen next, I found a small, spindely long carrot, that would be great for the snowman;s nose. However, the best prize was my father's old gardening hat, that he had left on the table; this will be great and keep the snowman cosy. 

We placed the carrot beneath the ebony eyes, the snowman's features immediately became more defined and real. Hywel my brother placed the hat on the snowman's head, the effect was wonderfull.

Hywel said he should have a broom too, I thought that was a good idea and would make the snowman look even more impressive. So we used my mother's broom, from the garden shed and placed it against the snowman.

This snowman we have built should have a name I thought and said to the others "what shall we name him?" I said; we went through some names we liked the favourite we all voted for was Mr. Snowflake!! Especially as he was made of snowflakes!!

Whilst announcing his name; the neighbour next door came out to look at the snowman and applauded our efforts. Rosy, our neighbour, was so impressed with our efforts, she brought out a trayfull of home made toffee and fudge, all cut into uneven shapes; as home made sweets should be. We thanked Rosy for the treats; then mum came out to see what we had been doing.

Mum told us that we had made a splended snowman but we had to come in for tea now.

After tea we were allowed to eat the toffee and fudge and mum added some marshmallows as well.

My brother, sister and I stared out of the window, watching the snowman Mr Snowflake out in the cold; which snowmen love, and whilst the snow still silently fell.

A memorable Winter's day in 1964, we all enjoyed ourselves so much.

by Anita Griffiths