By Jennifer Wood
It was a brisk cold day in the winter of 1989. My
two brothers Joseph, Spencer and myself were frolicking
in the snow in our front yard. After hours of playing
we were bored with the snowmen, igloos and forts.
Wanting to expand our creativity we started making
snow furniture. Before we knew it, we had a complete
living room set with couches, lamp, TV and all! We
refused to go inside the rest of the afternoon. Instead,
we opted to relax in our frozen oasis and enjoy the
perplexed looks we received from passers-by. Every
once in a while our mother would peek out the front
door to make sure we weren’t frozen to death
or to bring us hot chocolate. Now, the story does
not end here.
After countless cups of hot chocolate we found ourselves
in a slight predicament…you can only imagine.
And the last thing we were going to do was to go
inside and abandon our hard work to the pillaging
neighborhood children! Instead, my brothers did the
next best thing…they constructed a snow toilet.
Don’t worry once my parents saw what was going
on, they dragged our numb little bums inside (no
innocent snow was harmed). This situation is a classic
example of how crazy traditions are started in my
family.
Every year since that day, weather permitting, my
brothers and I reunite in our front yard and build
a snow living room and a large snow toilet in remembrance
of childhood escapades from long ago.
”Awww toilets; where all of life’s great
decisions are made.” Quote from my Brother
Spencer
Instructions for making a superior snow toilet and
other living room furniture:
- Roll a large snowball and pack it together really
hard.
- Take a small garden shovel and spade and start
slicing and dicing that sucker into the basic shape
of a toilet, couch, etc.
- For artistic details you may like to carve
out the toilet bowl and add a frozen icy lid on
top (use
cold water to freeze and pack it together).
- Make the coffee table, end tables and a TV
too.
Nobody ever said that traditions can’t be
changed. We just made a new better tradition. Better
fun for us anyway. Have a great holiday season.
Jennifer Wood lives in Vancouver, BC
