As I was packing away my lovely snowmen, I forgot that I wanted to share with you my favorite snowman!

Let’s back up to 2001.  This is the first Christmas of our newly formed family:  me, Tony and his son Joe and my daughter Hannah.  We used to pass by this tree farm and decided that this year we would chop down our own tree – how cool is that?!  That is until we asked how much they cost.  They started at $65!  A quick decision was made and we went to the VFW lot and got a perfectly good $19 tree!

So Tony chopped off the bottom of the tree stump before putting it in the tree stand.  Joe picks up the stump, starts removing the bark and starts sanding it.  I kept asking him, “what are you going to do with that?”  To which he always replied: “I haven’t decided yet.”  He sanded that thing for what seemed like days!

So Christmas morning, we are opening presents (youngest to oldest!) and Joe hands me a gift.  I open it up and this is what I find:

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He made a snowman out of it!  It still brings tears to my eyes when I see it.  Tony cut off the sleeve of an old shirt to make the hat. 

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So this is the first snowman I look for when decorating!  Thanks again Joe!  When you made this for me, I really felt accepted – it had to be hard having your Dad marry someone else, but you welcomed me the most with this gift!  I love you!