“I tell you, it’s not a proper winter without a decent snowman.”
– Mr. Tumnus, in CS Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The cold elegance of the winter when the branches wear white and crystals sparkle in the sun cries to be contrasted with mirth, the silence broken by laughter.
As the animals hide and hunker down and hibernate, the fields are opened to human children of all ages filled with awe at the transformation of the world around with the glorious white powder from the sky. The playful aspects of youth come out even among the aged, and the desire to create is manifested in mounds of snow made man, rough homages to others with scarves and stick arms standing around as temporary monuments to our childhood.