The winter I turned 11, I was sojourning at my grandparents’ with the clan. One day it started to snow heavily. The Chinese New Year on the way, you could smell excitement in the air. There was nothing fun to do indoors, however, so my brother and I got bored soon after the festive meal each day.

“Why not build a snowman?” I came up with an idea and shared it with my brother. He agreed. We went out and started the project. Pretty soon, my father came out and pitched in. In a couple of hours, a handsome snowman came up alive.

Night setting in, light from indoors illuminated the world outside through the windows. We were on the first floor, so the snowman looked us right in the face. My brother from time to time clambered onto a chair and said hello to the snowman from up there. So ecstatic was he that he sometimes dropped onto the floor, forgetting he was mounted on a chair.

One evening, my brother and I were admiring the cute snowman through the window again. “Woof! Woof!” the snowman barked. OMG! I was so petrified that I almost fainted on the spot. My brother started to shriek. Right away the adults came over and asked us what the matter was. We disclosed that the snowman had just barked. They were incredulous.

Just as the adults were directing their eyes at the snowman, it barked again, “Woof! Woof!” My father laughed. He took out his car’s remote control and, with it, set off the alarm. The car was parked just next to the snowman. As the siren was sounding, we saw a shadow scampering away from the back of the snowman. My father reassured us that the snowman would not bark any more. Then we retired to bed.

First thing the next morning, Brother and I hurried out into the fluffy snowflakes to investigate. We found a hole in the back of the snowman. When we shared our discovery with Father, he explained that some animals dig holes in snow so that they can stay there to keep warm. Dwellers in polar regions, like the Inuit, basically build their home in a snow cavern. It turned out that a stray dog had dug a hole in the lee of our snowman to seek shelter there, but Father had scared it away with the car alarm.

What a funny snowman!