As Maxine found out on our first snow, building a snowman is not a matter of just pushing some snow together and putting on a scarf. No siree Bob! Building a snow man is quite an undertaking and we are delighted to give you our step by step instructions on building a snowman (snowperson for the politically correct).

1. Test to see if you have "moist snow", which clumps together easily but that is not too wet. The snow must pack to make a snowman. If the snow does not pack we suggest waiting for another snow, as it is pretty tough to get really dry snow to pack. The ideal outdoor temperature is probably right at or just below freezing. When it is miserably cold, like during the first snow of the season, the snow simply does not compact and therefore renders the attempt of making a snowman useless.
2. Once you have determined the snow is moist enough to stick together, shape a handful of snow into a snowball and continue adding more and more snow while packing the ball until it is too large to hold.
3. Put the ball on the ground, in the snow in front of you and gently roll it up, down and around the yard. As the snow starts to accumulate you need to pack the snow into the ball. This makes the snow balls nice and firm so they will not fall apart on you later on. You are going to get leaves and things in your ball. Do not worry about this at first, wait to clean it up at the end. Remember, you will be covering the leaves with fresh white snow. :)
4. Roll and pack the ball over and over until you reach the size you want for the bottom of the snowman's body. Please keep in mind that you will be making a proportionally sized ball for the mid drift so do not make the ball too big.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for the midsection and head.
6. A few tips here: try leveling off the top of each ball, this will help make the snow man more stable; put long sticks or a pole down the middle to help the sections stay straight; start your snowball at the top of the hill, not the bottom.
7. Now that the hard work is done it is time to make your snow person a face. We used rocks but you can also use coal, buttons, twigs, and even a carrots for the nose.
8. Finally add arms, a scarf, sunglasses and other accessories.

And then, Voila, you have yourself a snowperson! Including the short-lived snowball fight and chatting it up with Steve we probably took an hour to make SP (that is short for Snow Person ;-)) It was Maxine's first snow creation since childhood and boy did we have fun!


One more small recommendation, remember your gloves and make sure they are waterproof. The fuzzy cashmere ones get pretty wet.

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