7. Grandma's Snow Play

My first memory of playing in the snow I was very young. My excitement was contagious. My great-grandmother was my caretaker as a child. She was happy to see how excited I was about the snow falling, but that was were her excitement ended. I was around three or four years old and very anxious to be outside playing in the beautiful playground being created in right before my very eyes. I imagined tasting the small, white crystals, wondering if they tasted like the clouds. I expected to make giant snowmen and throw a few snowballs carefully rounded with my gloved hands. I was very eager to lie on my back in the snow and spread my arms and legs just like I had watched children do on television.
All of plans changed when my grandmother explained to me that we could not go outside. Instead, she explained, we were going to bring the snow into us. The thought of bringing all the snow into our house was an appealing idea. I ran out of the room and grabbed my coat from the closet. I began to wonder what Grandma was going to use to get all of the snow in the house, and where she was going to put it. She called for me to come back to the kitchen explaining I would not need my coat. Suddenly I was confused again, but I obeyed her. Quickly I threw my coat on my bed and raced down the hall back to the kitchen. When I got there I found Grandma at the back door.
Grandma told me to get in my mother’s kitchen cabinets and get a few of her pots. I did and handed them to her. Then, she told me to get a few spoons out of the drawer. I asked what we were doing, I thought she was crazy. This would take all night bringing in the snow with spoons, and we needed something bigger than my mother’s pan to hold the snow. My Grandmother explained to me then that we would pretend to cook, using the snow, when it melted we would pour the water in the sink and get new. I began to think of different things we could pretend to make. Mashed potatoes were all I could think of at the time and I began to get disappointed I wanted to make snowmen, and angels, and snowballs. My grandmother was patient and explained we would, and we did I played in the snow until my fingers ached from the coldness. We sat at the kitchen table for what seemed all night making miniature angels and snowmen. I made giant snowballs. We cooked many dishes that night and we ate each one.
When my children were very young I did as my Grandmother did. We enjoyed the snow from the inside, staying warm. We were able to use our imaginations together and come up with all kinds of things to do with the snow. While playing with them I would tell them of my Grandmother and how she had done the same thing with me as a child.