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Snow and Santa visit

I woke up the other morning, looked out the window and saw snow outside still sticking to my car, the grass and pretty much everything else. I knew our young son Henry would be excited to see it if he hadn’t already. As we got ready for school he didn’t mention it. But as he opened the door to go outside, a mini winter wonderland appeared before his eyes.

“Snow, snow, snow!” he said. “It snowed!”

Needless to say this made his morning. He was so excited he started picking it up and playing with it without any gloves on.

“I made a snowball,” he said with a big grin.

“My hands are freezing,” he said a few seconds later.

I reminded him that gloves are needed for snow play, and that we would have to find them for next time. He said he was going to tell everyone at school about the snow. He hoped it would still be there later. I told him if it stayed cold all day that it just might. Pretty soon there will be enough snow to sled ride on. I better find my snow pants and boots so I can play in the snow, too. Maybe I’ll get brave and ride downhill this year.

On a side note, we attended the Martins Ferry Winterfest a couple weekends ago. Henry got to go ice skating for the first time on a synthetic rink and he had a blast. He also got talk with Santa Claus inside the library. Henry was a little shy at first, peaking around the corner to take a look at the top elf. But when Santa gave him a big smile and a wave to come over, Henry felt better and did just that.

“What do you want for Christmas?” Santa said.

“A football,” Henry

answered.

“Is that all?” Santa asked.

“Yes.” Henry replied.

I told Henry later that we could always mail the rest of his wish list to Santa if he wanted to. Santa answered some pretty important questions that Henry had asked in the past. Santa asked us if we had a chimney at our house. When we told him we did not, he brought out a special key he said he uses to enter people’s homes on Christmas eve in order to deliver their presents.

“The key also quiets down dogs,” Santa added.

No doubt this was something Henry may have been thinking about since our dog, Dino, barks at everything at night, it seems.

Santa also told Henry about his reindeer and elves. He said there are as many reindeer as stars in the sky. He said his reindeer can fly because they eat special oats that give them the ability to fly. Henry listened closely and carefully, taking in every word Santa spoke.

We thanked Santa and told him Merry Christmas. Thanks again, Santa, and we hope you have safe flight!

Hanson can be reached at shanson@timesleaderonline.com.

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