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Best Snowmen of 2016 (So Far)

I forgot how much I like to play in the snow because I habitually delegate fort-building, sledding, and snowball fight oversight to the husband. But he was out of town for Jonas, so I reluctantly slipped on my down jacket, snow pants, BOGS, and gloves, then headed outside with the kiddos for the first time in five years.

We had thirty-seven inches to work with and so built a chicken igloo, made use of the near-three acre hill in the backyard, dug tunnels and hid in them while lobbing snowballs at each other, and lastly, made a very stout snowman. We were outside for almost two hours each afternoon.

Coming back inside was the worst part. We were wet, wind-burned, and painfully numb...the kind of cold when your fingers feel like needles are sticking them. Cold enough to plow through two boxes of Swiss Miss, which consequently, became a major food group during those low-teen temps.

In the evenings we warmed up over my range, crafting various homemade soups/stews and complementary homemade yeast breads. We took our time and listened to music as we made dinner together, baked cookies for dessert, and danced in the kitchen by the fire. The kids got rowdy when T-Rex, 4, put on the polka CD and insisted we all do The Chicken Dance...


After finally accepting the fact that I would not be getting any work done, I was able to let loose and participate in celebrating the white wonder, not just watch the kiddos hit Mach 2 while barreling down the hill on a green plastic disc-of-death.

Playing outside is fun and fundamental to being human. And in the cooler states, winter not only provides right-brained inspiration, the frozen precip also presents an ideal, accessible, media for creating.

As I surfed Pintrest tonight, I found plenty of others who embraced the snow and posted photos, particularly of snowmen. These are my favorites:





Is this supposed to be Judge Dread?


Love the Dora gloves!



Lifting with a pipe in your mouth is seriously hard core.

This one had me laughing out loud. I'm gonna guess this snowman lives out in the country somewhere...






*An extensive gallery of these funny snowmen can be found here. FYI--They are not all for little eyes.






Posted February 9 2016 by Audie Cockings
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Audie Cockings is the author of Little Red Rider, a fiction thriller available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com. She holds a Master's in Adulthood and Aging/Health Care Administration and has been published previously in healthcare.