A Christmas story for my children…
that I’m also sharing with yours…

One day, a long, long time ago,

a little bit of water in a very small puddle by the side of the road

evaporated and floated up to the sky.

That is what we call “water vapor.”

It was a warm, sunny day

and this is what happens on warm sunny days

to puddles by the side of the road.

On the way up to the big blue sky

it got colder and colder,

and the vapor turned into tiny little water droplets.

As the droplets passed through some very cold air,

they formed into crystals.

Groups of crystals got together and formed into a little snowflake.

One little snowflake became known as Crystal.

She loved her new shape.

Her long, slender arms gave her grace.

Her heart shaped center gave her love.

And, her pointed little spikes gave her brilliance.

Crystal noticed lots of other snowflakes had gathered, too.

But none of them looked just like her.

She noticed another snowflake named Frosty.

Frosty’s arms were much rounder at the center of her body,

becoming very thin at their willowy tips.

Crystal and Frosty liked each other immediately

and became very good friends.

As they looked around,

they saw that each little snowflake was completely unique,

just like all of the people on earth.

The snowflakes gathered into a long, thin wispy cloud

way up high in the sky.

Crystal began to call her cloud’s state of affairs, “Cirro Stratus.”

One night, while they were dancing about,

they created a halo around the moon.

Crystal and Frosty began to sing joyfully…

“A ring around the sun or moon brings rain or snow upon you soon,

A ring around the sun or moon brings rain or snow upon you soon.”

Before long, everyone was singing and dancing.

“A ring around the sun or moon brings rain or snow upon you soon.”

Other thin, wispy clouds wanted to join in the singing and dancing,

which made the state of Cirro Stratus get heavier and heavier.

The joining of other clouds caused Cirro Stratus

to begin to drift downward toward the earth.

Cirro Stratus had lost its wispy shape

and had even become darker in color.

Crystal’s friend Frosty remembered stories

about another cloud called Nimbo Stratus.

They knew that they had just traveled to the new state of Nimbo Stratus.

Shortly, Nimbo Stratus had also become just too heavy

to float in the sky anymore.

Suddenly, its weight was just too much,

and Nimbo Status burst wide open.

All of the tiny snowflakes began to slowly fall toward the earth below.

Once there, they piled up one by one, on top of each other.

Each one landed softly, on that quiet winter’s night…

The only light was from the full moon and a few street lamps,

which were both glimmering into the night.

The golden light from the street lights

was shimmering silver against each snowflake

as it lay quietly upon the ground.

When Crystal and Frosty passed in front of a lamp’s soft glow,

the light reflected on her tiny icy body

and brilliantly illuminated her heart and slender arms.

Crystal and her friend Frosty came to rest on the ground next to each other

and they began to sing,

“It’s snowing, it’s snowing, the children are soon going to be glowing.”

Once morning came, the sun was shining brilliantly on the snow covered earth,

where all of the snowflakes had fallen from the sky the night before.

Some snowflakes had collected on branches of trees,

whose branches were bending from the weight,

giving the trees fun and unusual shapes.

Crystal and Frosty looked around

and were delighted to learn that their new home was next to a river.

In the distance, they could hear children coming out to play.

Crystal winked at Frosty, and they began to sing,

“It’s snowing, it’s snowing, the children will soon be glowing,

as drifts of snow are blowing…

It’s snowing, it’s snowing, the children will soon be glowing,

as drifts of snow are blowing…”