Season of the Year

Season of the Year by Noah Cook

To quote a famous Christmas song by Andy Williams, I believe that the holiday season “is the most wonderful time of the year.” It draws friends and families closer together. With it comes snow that children get to play in. Perhaps the most important, it creates memories that can last forever. The beginning of winter is the time of year when the holiday season is just around the corner. Wintertime always brings family to your door, and relatives are two important things to have in your life. It was Christmas Eve a few years ago around ten o'clock, and I was playing a game with my sister, Rose, that we had gotten to open a day early so we would be tided over until the next day. I thought we had ironed out when each of us would swap off the game and let the other one go, but in a matter of minutes, we were fighting over whose turn it was to play. “Rose! It's my turn again!” I exclaimed. “Nuh-uh,” she retorted. “It's still my turn.” After my dad heard us bickering, he separated us, and I came into the living room and sat on the couch next to him. He and my mom were watching Rudolph: The Red-Nosed Reindeer. I had been seated for about five minutes when someone came knocking at our door. I made my way to the door and opened it. A cold wind rushed in, and I was greeted by “Merry Christmas, Balonie!” (said like 'bologna') It was dark, and I couldn't make out the silhouette’s face, but there was only one person in the whole world who called me 'Balonie'. It was my Aunt Cassie who had gotten the week off work for Christmas and came up from Kentucky to visit us. I was ecstatic! I hadn't seen her in almost two years, and I didn't leave her alone until my mom made Rose and I go to bed. Now, Christmas brings her up to see us every year! Unless you live on the equator, every winter conjures up snow, and with snow comes kids getting bundled up in coats, gloves, boots, and stocking hats to go out and play in it. One January about five years ago, a huge snowstorm brought us at least eighteen inches of the perfect packing snow . My dad had the day off, so he decided to come help Rose and me build a snowman. After we had put on proper attire, we all headed out into the thick sheet of crystallized precipitation. Rose and I started piling up handfuls of snow while Dad went off somewhere else. We'd been stacking for about two minutes when I heard Rose shout “Wow! How did you do that?” I looked up and saw Rose running over to my dad, who was standing next to a snowball at least two-and-a-half feet in diameter. Also curious, I also went over to examine the ball. “Yeah, that was fast!” I said. As he demonstrated how to recreate his giant sphere of snow, we each tried to make some of our own. After we both got the hang of the technique, we all started rolling tiny snowballs into enormous ones. After about twenty minutes, we had made enough snow-bales for four snowmen. My dad suggested that we make a snow fort instead of a snowman. We agreed, and he began stacking. He ended up creating a massive snow fort six feet tall and four feet across! We played in that fort until it fully melted until April. Memories are the best part of the holiday season. They can span a lifetime. My fondest memory took place last Christmas. It was around nine o'clock in the evening, and the last of our family members had just left. I had gone back to the kitchen for seconds of my dad's brown sugar ham, still warm in the oven. I grabbed a plate and forked a few pieces onto it. I brought the plate into the living room, and got situated into a chair with our Christmas tree behind it. I then chomped into one of the thick, sweet, chewy slices of ham, and a thin stream of juice dripped onto my shirt. Noticing this, I quickly ate the rest of my ham, and got up to change. Instead of getting a shirt from my dresser, I decided to a fresh grab one of the dryer. Still warm, I slid it on. Returning to the living room, I reached under the tree and pulled out my new plush blanket and my DS. After wrapping myself up in the blanket, I plopped down into the chair again, turned on the power, and began playing. The replete combination of the warm ham, the hot t-shirt, the fuzzy blanket, the new video game, and the soft lights of the Christmas tree illuminating the dimly lit room made this moment my favorite holiday memory. The holiday season brings about many admirable things. Family, snow, and memories, I believe, all make the holiday season the best season.