Can't Love Christmas

Sixteen

The snow continued through Saturday, and Ash woke up on Sunday morning to a foot of snow on her lawn. She picked up her phone and called Rowan. He picked up on the third ring, "Yeah?"

Ash smiled at his voice thick with sleep. "Are you busy right now?"

"I'm sleeping."

"No you're not. You're talking to me. But seriously, are you busy today?"

Rowan let out a long sigh, and she could hear him rolling over in the bed. "I mean, I've got work."

"Can I meet you there in like an hour?"

"At work?"

"Yeah. I've got another Christmas activity for you."

"Here?"

"Wow you are slow in the mornings. Technically outside, but yes there."

"Yeah, okay."

"Perfect! I'll see you soon. Dress warm."

Ash disconnected and started to get ready.

-

The snow was pristine and Ash almost felt bad for disturbing it, but she got right on the ground and began to pack the snow into a medium sized ball. When it was big enough, she began to roll it all around until it was getting hard to push.

As she slumped to the ground beside it, she looked over to Rowan who laughed and walked over to her. "Need some help?"

"Yes please. I want our snow man to be life sized, so this one needs to be almost as tall as your legs."

"Why aren't we making a snowman that's your size? Why does it have to be as big as me?"

"Because I said so."

"Bossy!"

"Shut up and help me roll."

Together they collected all the snow they could and bickered about the snowman's location for at least 5 minutes before Ash finally won. He would stand approximately 10 feet from the bar and the sidewalk to the bar, smiling at everyone entering.

It took about an hour for them to get the 3 balls rolled and stacked appropriately for Ash's liking. She could feel the snow melting through her pants into her leggings, and she was huffing and puffing from the exertion. She dragged Rowan along into the trees to find some sticks for arms, eventually cutting some larger branches down to size. Rowan refused her requests to cut a branch off a tree when it was exactly what she wanted.

Once their snowman had a body with arms, Ash retrieved the bag of props and clothing from her car. She had huge black buttons for his abdomen, a carrot for his nose, and black rocks for the eyes and mouth. She even had an old pipe, but Rowan declared it to be pro-smoking propaganda, and refused to let the snow man be involved in such activities.

Ash had a surprise for Rowan though, and forced him to choose the other accessories. In the end, the snowman had on a red and blue striped scarf, a fedora, and a fanny pack. Ash packed the rest of her things into the car and came back to stand beside Rowan as they admired their handiwork.

Ash shook her head. "I still don't understand the fanny pack."

"If you didn't want the snowman to wear the fanny pack, why did you even bring a fanny pack?"

"I didn't think you'd pick it, obviously!"

"Well, joke's on you, this snowman is wearing a fanny pack." He crossed his arms and set his jaw.

"But what does he need a fanny pack for?"

"To keep his snowman things in obviously. What if he needs to replace a button?"