The Three Wise Snowmen
Snow! A very fine substance that falls from the sky and on this particular day in December it snowed enough to make snowmen. The kids of the Blue Wind neighborhood hopped at the chance. They were all out of school because the snow made it hard for anyone to drive. Three children, Gracie, Sydney and Sean decided to do just that. Make snowmen in their front yards.
"My snowman is going to be the biggest," Sean boasted for he was the only boy out in his part of the neighborhood. Next door, Gracie and Sydney, two sisters were busy making two snowmen as well.
"No mine is going to be the biggest," Sydney exclaimed as she rolled the second ball of snow upon her snowman.
Gracie rolled the final ball for her snowman's head and placed it on so that her snowman's body was now complete. She glanced at her sister's and then at her neighbor's and thought to herself that she was going to create the biggest. Instead of boasting about it, she was going to make sure that hers would be the biggest and the best of them all.
Once the three children finished the bodies of their snowmen, they ran inside to grab scarfs, carrots, coal and other assortments for their snowmen. Sydney dropped everything in front of hers and quickly grabbed the scarf. She draped it over like she would if she was placing it on herself. Then she placed the nose and the eyes on. An old shoe lace that Sydney had found in her closet, was placed to create the smile. She added a baseball cap of hers, long sticks for the arms and then stepped back to enjoy her creation.
Gracie grabbed a vest that she didn't really wear. She stuck the two sticks in for the arms and then carefully placed the vest over the snowman. She had two chocolate chip cookies for the snowman's eyes and the traditional carrot for the nose, and then she added seven pieces of coal for the mouth. The last element she placed was the hat which was a cowboy hat. It fit perfectly around his head and created a look like a Texan.
Sean added a bike helmet to his snowman that didn't quite fit but was really cool looking to a seven year old boy. He placed rectangular erasers for eyes and a candy cane for the nose. Rusty washers from his dad's junk pile made up the mouth. Thin pieces of wire were bent to look like arms
"I am going to name my snowman Sam," Gracie said.
"Well, I am going to name my snowman Frosty. Like the snowman from the movie," Sean exclaimed as if he had the best name out of the three.
"I am going to name mine Mumble because he probably won't be able to speak very well," Sydney countered.
"Does he remind you of the penguin off that movie we watched last night?" Gracie asked her sister.
"Yes, that is one reason for naming him that. The other reason is the way I created the mouth; I imagine if he were to come to life, he would just mumble instead of talk."
"They kind of remind me of that bible story of the three wise men that came to see Jesus when he was just a little boy," Sean named.
"Yeah, I can see that too," Sydney exclaimed in agreement.
"Kids, it's time to leave for the Christmas Eve service!" shouted their parents form the door of their houses.
"Bye, Frosty!"
"Bye, Sam!"
"Bye, Mumble!"
Once the kids left and were far out of sight, a miraculous thing happened. The snowmen moved. Green, red and white lights shone and engulfed the three snowmen in their exquisite colors. Then the magic did its work. It lifted up in the air, transformed them and then set them down on the ground again
Frosty moved first, and He stretched his fingers and wiggled his nose. Sam was the next. He opened his mouth into a yawn and grabbed his hat and bowed as if he was greeting someone. Mumble was the last, but he didn't do anything. The first thing that he was trying to do was to speak, but all that was heard were muffled yells. He hung his head low in despair for he never thought that he would be able to speak. It took them about thirty minutes for the three of them to be completely convinced that they were alive and moving. About the time they realized they were alive, a bright light appeared in the western part of the skyline. It shone so brightly that the three of them shielded their eyes for a moment.
"Hey! Do you see that bright light in the sky? Maybe we can go and find out what it is." Sam asked Mumble. He shook his head eagerly up and down for he was looking at the same thing wondering.
"Can't speak huh?" Frosty asked.
Mumble lowered his head and shook his head no.
"Well maybe we can find a cure on our way to the light!" Sam suggested.
Mumble's eyes brightened at the idea.
"I wonder what that light is," Frosty asked, "It is too far up in the sky to be snow."
"Maybe it is a search light!" Sam included.
"I think it's way too dim to be a search light,"
"Then what is it?" Sam asked a little frustrated.
"I don't know, but I really want to find out. How about it Mumble, are you ready to go on an adventure?"
Mumble shook his head yes as he was grinning from ear to ear with happiness.
"Mumble's in. Now let's trod on out to find out what that light is," Sam said adventurously.
"Um, Sam are you forgetting something?" Frosty questioned.
"No," Sam incredulously said, "What exactly would we be missing?"
"We don't have legs!"
"Oh! That would be helpful wouldn't it?"
All three of the snowmen set out by reaching out to grab snow that was around them and scooping it next to their bottom section. Then using creative skills, they used that snow to form legs for them to walk with.
"That's better," Frosty exclaimed as he let out a sigh of relief.
"Are we headed for that light?" Sam asked Mumble.
Mumble shook his head yes as fast as he could and pointed toward the light as the three snowmen began to walk forward, across the yard and out of the neighborhood, toward the light that shone brightly in the sky.
Once they got out of the neighborhood, the very first obstacle they had to overcome was a very busy street.
"Busy Street. Appropriate name something that is obviously busy," Frosty unbelievingly said.
"How are we supposed to cross?" Sam asked, but before waiting for an answer, he stepped out onto the street. He realized the danger when a car racing at 50 miles per hour on the street blared his horn. Sam quickly raced back to the side of the street that he began on.
"How are we to get across? The only way that we can get to the light is to cross the busy street," Frosty asked.
"The street loops all the way around," Sam explained, "So we have to cross the street here or else we won't be able to arrive there at all."
Mumble noticed a button on a traffic light (though he didn't know what it was) and curiously looked at it. He cautiously pressed the button and watched the hanging lights. To Mumble's surprise, when the light turned red, all of the cars using the street that they needed to cross stopped. He grew excited and rushed over the where Sam and Frosty stood and started tugging on Sam's vest.
"What is it Mumble, can't you see that we are trying to figure a way across?" Sam said very angrily but Mumble just kept on tugging.
"I think he is trying to tell us something. What are you trying to say?"
Mumble ran over to the pole and began to gesture for Sam and Frosty to follow. He vigorously pointed at the button and then to the traffic light.
"Yeah, that is a traffic light," Frosty annoyingly replied, "What is so helpful about that?"
Mumble pushed the button again and began pointing at the traffic light again. The light did the same thing. When it turned red, everyone stopped.
"Hey!" Sam shouted, "They all stopped!"
"Good work, Mumble!" Frosty praised, "Now let's cross the road quickly before they start up again."
And that is just what they did, and they did it as fast as their small legs would carry them. Once they crossed to the other side, the light looked a lot closer. They looked inside the windshields of cars, and saw that the people were starring with gaping jaws at this phenomenon. The people who were taking a stroll slowed down as they passed because they have never seen such a queer act before.
They continued on their way and as they walked closer to their target, the more excited they all got. But that excitement was all dulled when something terrible was happening.
"OH, get them off of me!" Frosty cried as he swatted at two sparrows that had landed on his nose and started pecking at it.
Mumble was running in circles while the birds flew closely behind. And Sam shook his head as fast as he could without knocking off his head.
"What are we going to do about all these birds?" Frosty asked as he threw his hat at several birds.
Mumble noticed something that might help them. In a bush near a house was a butterfly net. He could catch the birds using the net. He started off after Sam first and swung the net as hard as he could at the little beasts. The birds, at first, were hard to catch, but once Mumble had success in aiming the net, he started warding the birds off. The birds that swarmed around Frosty were harder to show who was boss. They were big Grackle birds that when threatened, attack the source. So they both attacked Frosty and Mumble. But in about five minutes, Mumble had subdued the nasty creatures.
After the attack, Frosty was missing part of his candy cane nose, Sam, an eye and Mumble, his entire nose and his mouth.
"We sure look like a weirdo now," Sam said a little dejected.
"Thank you Mumble for your courage in freeing us from those vermin," Frosty continued, "You allowed us to keep most of each of us."
Mumble bowed like he was accepting the praise given to him, but he soon pointed back at the star indicating their destination.
"You're right," Frosty said, "We need to continue on, whether or not we have all of us."
It took them an hour to find their way to the source of the light and to their surprise. . .
"It's on a church!" Sam exclaimed.
"What is the light on the church for?" Mumble thought to himself.
"Hey! You remember that story that our kids were talking about?" Frosty said " Where Jesus came to the earth through a virgin birth, and how they believe that the men came about the time Jesus was one years old? They followed a star in that story not a light on a church steeple."
"Yeah, the story about the three wise men, right?" Sam asked.
Frosty pointed to the manger scene that sat in front of a church. It looked like it was missing something, but he wasn't quite sure.
"I think they are missing the three wise men!" Sam said as he walked up closer. A bright light flashed around Sam when he walked over to the baby Jesus. When he turned around to face his friends, he saw a look of surprise on their faces.
"What? What's wrong?" Sam asked having to double take the scene to see if he had missed anything on the manger scene.
"You. . . . have your . . . . . eye back!" Frosty pointed with a shaky hand.
Frosty cautiously and slowly walked closer to where Sam was standing and a bright light flashed around him as well. His candy cane nose was stronger and the red stood out more than ever before. It made Mumble wonder something. He walked up to the manger and more than a bright light engulfed him.
Several beams of red, white and green lifted Mumble off his feet. Mumble started fretting about what was happening, but he found that he had nothing to fear. When the lights faded away, Mumble stood there with a gaping jaw. He was transformed by more than just the pieces that were missing from the attack, but his clothes were nice. He had coal buttons and a bow tie and his arms were new wood. His nose was a bright orange carrot and his mouth was no a shoe lace, but a blue ribbon.
"Look at me guys!" Mumble shouted but quickly put his hands over his mouth.
"What did you just say?" Sam asked.
"I said look at me!"
"Mumble! You can talk now!" Frosty exclaimed in disbelief.
"I sure can. Hey I have an idea. Why don't we be the three wise men?" Mumble suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea," Sam exclaimed and walked over to where the wise men usually stood in a manger scene.
When all three of the snowmen got into place, the green, red and white lights engulfed all three of them. When they disappeared, Sam, Mumble and Frosty all had clothes that the three men would have worn. Also, in their hands they held boxes of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Unfortunately, the magic that made them come to life faded and Sam, Mumble and Frosty were soon frozen among the manger scene figures.
"That was the best Christmas Eve service ever!" Sydney exclaimed as she exited the doors of her church.
"I agree! I can't wait for tomorrow thought. It is going to be fun. I think I have already guessed a few of my presents," Sean stated enthusiastically.
"Hey, aren't those our snowmen?" Gracie asked as she pointed toward the manger scene.
"No," Sydney exclaimed, "It's not like they created legs and walked."
"Maybe it was magic that allowed them to come alive," Sean said all mysterious like.
"I think God might have allowed it. I mean after all he parted the Red Sea and caused the walls of Jericho to fall at the shouts of the Israelites," Gracie exclaimed. "If he can do all that, then he surely must be able to make snowmen come alive."
"Yeah, but I guess that means we will have to make a new one," Sean said sadly.
"Why do you sound so down about that?" Sydney asked, "I mean we don't even know if these snowmen are ours!"
"I am just kidding!" Sean said as he lightly punched Sydney's shoulder, "Race you to the car!"
To their surprise when they arrived back at their houses, the snowmen that they created weren't there. But what they found were foot prints in the snow. Three sets of them to be exact.
The next day, Gracie and Sydney ran as fast as they could after Sean as they played tag out in the snow. They had fun on Christmas making new wise men. Sorry, I meant snowmen.
Sam, Frosty and Mumble stood in the manger scene all of the Christmas holiday but when January came around they, all melted away and Gracie, Sean and Sydney never saw them again. But they adored their new snowmen even more and made sure that they didn't go off wandering again.