by Emily Jones

The crisp warmth of the fire gives me goosebumps that run up and down my body as I shiver with a cup of hot chocolate in my hand. I look out the window and the snow is drifting through the air, it gently sticks to the windows dissolving instantly. The feeling of winter creates a burst of happiness that runs throughout my blood, and I think of all the memories I will make this year. Waking up on a cold Monday morning realizing it’s a snow day and going back to sleep with heat blasting throughout my room. Going on ski trips where the snow is so delicate that it crushes into tiny specks when I touch it. Skiing in snow so powdery that it erupts into clouds of mist when I turn my skis horizontally to stop. Running around in my backyard with my sisters hiding under the fluffy snow for protection from their icy snowballs that feel like bullets of cotton candy when they hit me. Waiting in anticipation of Christmas morning, the day where I celebrate with my family and talk about all the time we have missed together. Going sledding with my friends on steep hills of the golf course, traversing the hills to get to the top, waiting with butterflies in my stomach for the big push that will send me hurtling down the hill. Feeling my friends’ hands as their soft touches create such a powerful pressure on my back that sends my whole body, along with the sled, accelerating down the hill. Then reaching the bottom and sliding into a cloud of snow that consumes me and spit me out on the other side. Then finally looking back at my friends and signaling with a thumbs up for them to come down the hill so we can do it again, it never gets old. After a long day of school, coming home and making a cup of hot chocolate that has minuscule spirals that float underneath the huge mountain of whipped cream that I add on top. Finally, enjoying the entire winter and waiting for the first snow to come again after it has all melted away and taken all of the joyous memories with it. Then I turn back to the fire and ponder on the memories I had just recalled, and I lay on my dog idling over when they will happen.