Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

I collect snowmen. Or, to be politically correct, snow people. I have stuffed snow people, ceramic ones, a quilt with snow people embroidered on it, ornaments, music boxes, etc. Some people collect Santa Clauses, but it’s snow people for me. They’re more ethereal.

I recently had occasion to photograph my collection, and I realized one thing about snow people. For the most part, they ALL have carrots for noses. I checked those snow people under my care and noticed that only three of them didn’t have carrots protruding from their faces.

So what does this tell us? Applying Mendelian logic, I think it means that carrot-nosed snow people are the dominant species, just like brown eyed humans are the dominant species. But once in a while a twig-nosed snowman is born. And once in a while a coal-nosed snowman arrives.

Celebrate them all: carrots, twigs, coal. Because snow people represent the fleeting joyous moments of the holiday season. They shine and then they melt, leaving only memory to remember.