Why I Love Winter | Teen Ink

Why I Love Winter MAG

By Arc6120a BRONZE, Auburn, New York
Arc6120a BRONZE, Auburn, New York
4 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
Impossible is nothing.


Winter is my favorite season. It is the prettiest, with bright rays of sunlight glinting off the fresh snow and ice sculptures in the trees and shadows playing tricks with your eyes on the ground. The slow-falling flakes that never seem to stop spread a feeling of peace and relaxation. Looking at them fall is always fun, as you watch them flit back and forth in the light breeze, trying to find two identical flakes. If you could just go outside and lie down in the fresh snow, all your worries would disappear. The snow muffles and quiets everything, so if you close your eyes, you could easily fall asleep. It’s bliss.

Winter is snowball season. My father and I have snowball fights all the time. We used to make huge forts, elaborate designs of snow and ice sculpted by frozen hands, to protect ourselves from the hard-packed snowballs. When I was little, I needed a fort because I couldn’t plow through snow to run away or dodge shots as I can today.

Even with all the defenses I created, my father ­always leveled them easily with a well-placed mortar snowball. For those who don’t know, a mortar snowball is kind of like a mortar shell. It’s a real big ­snowball – we’re talking like bottom-of-a-snowman size – you have to throw at an upward angle to hit your enemy. If you make them right, they explode in all directions when they hit the ground, making a nice hole in whatever you hit, or knocking over whomever you hit. Once, my dad even leveled an igloo with one.

After all my defenses were destroyed, I nearly ­always had to resort to hiding ­behind the piles of snow that remained and throwing whatever I could back at my father. Eventually, his arm would grow tired, or one of us would get cold, and we’d head ­inside for hot cocoa with lots of marshmallows.

As I grew older, the basic idea of a snowball stayed the same but the game changed. My father and I no longer used forts. Instead, we began to move more. One of us would throw a shot, sprint for cover behind the nearest obstacle, and make another snowball. Throw, run, dive, make snowball, repeat. Now, if we get too close to each other, one of us will tackle the other, shove his face into the snow a few times, then run away and throw a snowball at him as he gets up. We also use many types of snowballs today, and they are a great deal more painful. We have:

• The All-Purpose Medium Strength Snowball – used for just about anything and everything.

• The Extra-Packed Small-Caliber Extra Strength Sniper Snowball – designed for pain and long throws.

• The Heavy-Gauge Mortar Snowball – for knocking things (or people) down or destroying fortresses.

• The Short-Range Last-Resort Shotgun Snowball – an explosion of snow designed to blind your enemy and allow you to escape.

• And, last but definitely not least, the Rocket Snowball – a very hard, heavy, fast snowball slightly bigger than your palm that could pass for ice. Delivers a one-hit K.O. complete with a free trip to the E.R.

The game has become even more fun with these many different snowballs, but proportionally more painful as well. My father and I have bruises from playing nowadays, but we can’t wait for winter to ­arrive once again. Dad’s acting older now, and pretty soon we’ll have to stop playing rough, but his aim is getting better, which makes up for what he’s lost.

Probably what I like most about winter is seeing my whole family. They live all over the place – some in Germany, Georgia, Florida, New York City, and countless other places. We rarely all get together, but during Christmas, we reunite and have a good time. Everyone in my family is a great cook too, so when we gather, excellent food abounds.

On Christmas Eve, we sit around the fireplace, play games, listen to music, and have fun as a family. To me, that is what makes winter my favorite season: togetherness. Sheltered from the freezing blizzard outside, we swap jokes and stories by firelight, waiting for the moon to appear and create a light show across the snow and sky, a winter dream. And it’s this winter dream that I’ve come to love fiercely. Winter is, and always will be, my favorite season.



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 19 comments.


LihiAmar said...
on Dec. 30 2020 at 2:54 am
LihiAmar, Jerusalem, Other
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
I like this story even though I don't really like winter but it is because in my country I don't have the kine of winter that you told about.

Simko1978 said...
on May. 1 2020 at 11:43 am
Simko1978, Henley-On-Thames, Other
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
I hate the winter and my favourite season is summer but I liked the story well done.

on Jan. 9 2012 at 6:07 pm
camohunter19 GOLD, Sedro-Woolley, Washington
14 articles 13 photos 128 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Girls are so queer you never know what they mean. They say No when they mean Yes, and drive a man out of his wits for the fun of it." "Violence is never the answer! It is a question, and the answer is yes."

Very sweet and sentimental; creative and halorious. Not exactly arguing anything though. Read my poem "The Real Winter"

on Jun. 3 2011 at 1:30 pm
writingmagic26 BRONZE, Eureka, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 34 comments
Oh yeah, and I loved the snowball names, they made me laugh.  :D

on Jun. 3 2011 at 1:30 pm
writingmagic26 BRONZE, Eureka, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 34 comments
i LOVED IT!  Winter was never one of my favorites, but your writing was so good, that I almost changed it to my favorite season!  It's great.  I love the chldhood memories and comfort it brings back that all to often is lost in the cold snow as we grow older.

on Jun. 3 2011 at 7:59 am
K.M.S.Shear BRONZE, Cherokee, Iowa
2 articles 0 photos 57 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Some people think writing is a waist of their time. For me it’s a way to draw an image of myself through the painting of words."

Its ok. Shovling snow isnt.

Pinky said...
on Jun. 3 2011 at 1:54 am
I like it. It's great. I like winter. In Vietnam, the winter  never has snow so I haven't phay with snow. I hope some day I'll have chance to go to your country to feel the atmosphere of winter.  

**_PiGlEt_** said...
on Dec. 9 2010 at 8:52 am
i like this story and i LOVE winter, too! i also agree woth this story...

g2g2g2 said...
on Dec. 9 2010 at 8:34 am
wow i like this and i agree i like winter too!!!!!nice!!!

friend-less said...
on Sep. 12 2010 at 10:21 am
friend-less, Natick, Massachusetts
0 articles 0 photos 37 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

this is amazing. really well written with humor! :) i LOVED it.

angel said...
on Jul. 30 2010 at 11:12 pm
i like it. I love winter too

sabortooth1 said...
on Jul. 8 2010 at 10:26 am
sabortooth1, Logan, Utah
0 articles 0 photos 12 comments
Please read the book review of The Kite Runner.  Just search "The Kite Runner" and it is about the third green highlighted one.  Very Inspiring! Rate/Comment it

on May. 25 2010 at 10:08 am
Still_Waters26 SILVER, Ladysmith, Wisconsin
6 articles 0 photos 88 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;We few, we happy few/we band of brothers/For he to-day that sheds his blood with me/Shall be my brother&quot;<br /> -Shakespeare, &quot;Henry V&quot;

I LOVED your names for the snowballs; that was SO COOL!! And when you talked about Christmas I thought about our last Christmas when we got to visit our family and it really brought back memories.  I love winter 2!

SeaRose BRONZE said...
on May. 27 2009 at 1:49 am
SeaRose BRONZE, Phoenix, Arizona
1 article 0 photos 5 comments
"Winter is my favorite season. It is the prettiest, with bright rays of sunlight glinting off the fresh snow and ice..." So pretty!

Thunderfirst said...
on Apr. 24 2009 at 2:34 am
I love your story! It's simple yet creative. Great work! :)

I love all seasons, but I'm a wimp in the cold and heat, so spring is my favorite season!

on Apr. 3 2009 at 5:53 pm
Kathleen Boylan BRONZE, Plainwell, Michigan
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments
I love winter too! Although I have never been any good at making or throwing snowballs (it's pathetic, really, since I've grown up and lived in Michigan my whole life) but I do love the snow. I love how when you walk outside after it just snows, its a whirl-wind in your mind of what you're going to do with it...make a snowman? make snow angels? ski? The list goes on. But I just wanted to say great job depicting winter and your love of it. Most people find winter a nuisance...

thefirstday said...
on Jan. 13 2009 at 7:36 am
Hey Andrew, this is brilliant. I'm really jealous of your winters. In Australia, it doesn't snow and there aren't anyway glittering rays of sunlight. It's too cold for us and it rains either everyday or every other day instead. I hope you have a blast while it lasts. Love

Eddie0309 said...
on Jan. 6 2009 at 4:03 pm
This article was pretty good but if i were going to rate it i would give it a three out of five because there are some parts that i like but there are parts i dont like.

Sauce007 said...
on Jan. 6 2009 at 4:03 pm
this is a cool story and i do it to.