The Candy Thief

As each winter season approaches, as long as one lives in a region where it snows, we remember that first snow fall of the season. Whether joyously or grudgingly, cursing under our breath, we remember.

When the ground is blanketed by a cover of white snow, it always reminds me of all the fun I had playing in the snow as a kid. That first snow fall felt like it would never come!

I did the typical things that most kids who grew up with a snowy winter did: Sledding, building snowmen, and snow forts, having snowball fights. I even rode on a snowmobile! I never ice skated though. I never learned how to do that and I was afraid to learn although it always looked fun!

There was one winter activity incident that just plain annoyed seven year old me!

I was roughly around the age of seven and we had just had a good snow fall. Now I couldn’t tell you if it was the first snow fall of the season let alone what month of winter it was, but I was nonetheless excited.

It was the kind of snow perfect for building snowmen! I made a snowball and got to rolling it excitedly. I worked hard to make that snowman look perfect and had fun with every aspect of doing so. I always found the toughest part to be the middle and heaving it up to sit a top the base without toppling over.

After, the snowman itself was built came my favorite part! The final step! I needed to find some eyes, a nose and a mouth for my snowman. I also needed to find buttons and arms too and maybe a hat. Arms and buttons would be easy. My childhood home was surrounded by both a field and a wooded area so finding sticks for arms was never an issue. I could find decent sized stones for buttons as well.

Now what else could I use? An idea emerged and I hurried inside. There was a bag of assorted hard candies a top the fridge. They would be perfect for finishing up my snowman!

I asked my mom to give me a few pieces of candy and explained what I was doing. “I need some eyes, a nose and mouth to finish up my snowman!”

She agreed to let me have a few pieces of candy. I hurried outside with the candy I picked out and strategically placed a hard piece of candy here and there like so for the eyes, nose and mouth.

I had just completed my masterpiece when suddenly I heard movement in the snow approaching. I turned around and saw a medium sized dog. A yellow furred mutt of some sort. I wasn’t alarmed or thought much really. This was a family friend’s dog that wandered around the property whenever they would visit. I ignored the dog that is until he jumped up, and snatched a candy eye off my snowman!

“Hey!!!” I was a little annoyed with the crazy dog stealing the candy used to make my snowman but figured the dog was satisfied with the candy it got.

That was okay. I’d just grab some extra candy from inside. I asked my mom again for some more candy and she obliged although I’m sure she started to wonder why I needed more candy when I had grabbed plenty enough for my snowman the first time.

I hurried back outside to redo my snowman. I had no more placed the candy for the eyes, nose, and mouth again when that crazy candy stealing dog snatched them off again!

Why I didn’t simply wait until that dog left for the day with his owner was beyond me. Of course, as a kid just excited to build a snowman, it was understandable that I couldn’t wait that long and there was no telling when that dog would go home.

I really wanted to complete my snowman! Frustrated, I went back inside for some more candy. This time, unfortunately, I was out of luck. My mom had grown suspicious and declared that I had had enough candy! Maybe she thought I was just sneaking it out to eat it.

I couldn’t tell my mom about the candy stealing dog. Maybe I thought I would get in trouble as highly unlikely as that sounded. Maybe I thought she wouldn’t believe me, another unlikely scenario.

I think I just felt a strange combination of stupidity, frustration, and annoyance.

I never did finish up my snowman. I was annoyed and had given up. He remained a snowman with one eye and half a mouth thanks to a candy stealing dog.