Wintertime fun
By Debra Wyly Baxter
Oh what fond memories of Winter and snow at home as a child with all the family! Seems like the most adventurous and fun times were in the winter, we farmed and of course, summer was work season.
The first big snow, my Dad, Bob Wyly, would go get an old hood off a pickup or truck that he’d saved and chain it onto the old tractor. He would let us take turns riding on that old hood while he pulled us down to the mailbox and back home over and over again. What a blast! Who needs a sled?
Then Mom and Emma would send us out for some clean snow to which she would add sugar and milk and some pure vanilla to make what we thought was the best ice cream we’d ever had! We rarely had ice cream except sometimes homemade with the wooden freezer in the summertime so I guess it did rate way up there.
Us kids, Gay, Gerall, Criss and I would go out and build a big snowman when the snow was big enough and wet enough.
My baby sister, Robin, was too little or not here yet for these times.
Having a baby come to the family when I was fifteen was so wonderful, but that’s another story.
My job was to find a hat and an old sweater for our great creation. Mother would get us buttons and usually a big carrot for his nose, but sometime a big bolt or something else would suffice!
Then of course the snowball fights were just too fun but Mama didn’t go for this too much and always warned us not to put a rock or anything in the snowball lest we put out someone’s eye. We got a good exciting snowballing once in a while.
A yard full of snow angels and a cold bunch of kids was the norm, too!
One of my extra fond memories is my dad building us a great big cave one year after a really big snow. I was probably 10 or 11-years-old. He got the old long handled shovel and dug right off the front porch and it seemed like a mansion to us. Igloo time! I remember Criss standing at the door watching, he was little and had an ol’ cold and couldn’t come outside to play. I felt sorry for him.
Another great fun was getting to stay home from school on a snow day. Mama would fix homemade cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. WOW!!
Those were the days!
